Whatchu Lookin' At, TwinkleToes?
by The Samurai Prince
Summary: Get one hot looking Toph they haven't seen in four years, and a nervous, hormonal stressed Aang. Now put them together as they travel to different parts of the world. The results are bound to be interesting... *NEWLY REVISED*
1. Sudden Reunion

**I absolutely feel weird writing this. No, not this author's note, I meant the story. But SOMEONE'S got to make an idea of this, darn it! And you'll see what I mean when you read this story. But let me warn you though…things get a little…sexy…and ecchi…**

…**Also, Toph has some big assets in this story. …Just wanted to make that clear, just so you'll all be prepared. And if that bothers you **_**somehow**_**, seeing as this shouldn't be taken seriously, and add the fact that she's OLDER here, then don't read. Simple as that. :P**

…**..**

**But um…yeah, be warned and stuff. **

…**..**

**AND PLEASE DON'T THINK LESS OF ME AFTER YOU READ IT! THIS IS JUST FOR HUMOR PURPOSES, ALRIGHT!? (goes in a corner and sulks in shame.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own A:TLA. If I did, Toph would play an important role in the show. GET THE HINT? …No? Well…she would. **

**REVISED: 4/7/2014**

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><p><em><strong>-Four years ago-<strong>_

Aang was ecstatic.

Here he is, the sixteen year old Avatar, running in the wealthy streets of the upper ring in Ba Sing Se, to meet his girlfriend and true love at the place where they shared their romantic kiss; The Jasmine Dragon.

It was dusk at Ba Sing Se, the sun setting in the horizon behind the buildings and illuminating the twilight colors onto the streets. Aang, along with Katara, were in the capitol city to debate with the Earth Kingdom Council on rebuilding their country. It was a fierce discussion, but they all resolved it for the time being. After the meeting, Katara wanted Aang to meet her at the Jasmine Dragon for something important. Enthusiastic about having some alone time with Katara, he didn't think to stop running when it was time to go over there. Of course, he didn't want to be too out of breath when he reached over there. He had to keep his composure in check, after all.

He came to a stop when he reached the Jasmine Dragon. He smiled. He straightened his formal Avatar clothing, checked his breath, and then walked casually(but not too casual) over to the tea shop.

He entered the establishment as the smell of fresh brewing tea and clanking sounds of tea cups and dishes filled the place. Some of the guests looked over at his direction and were surprised to see the Avatar there. They murmured to themselves. Aang wasn't paying attention to them however, as he was looking around to locate Iroh and saw him chatting with some customers at a nearby table. Iroh gazed over to see Aang and smiled a big smile. "Aang! You made it!" He excused the guests for a moment and walked over to the Avatar.

"Iroh!" he said with a big smile of his own.

They exchanged a big hug. The customers now all murmured loudly as they watched the two men interact. They parted as Iroh turned to the guests and said onto them, "Now everyone, please, go back to your business! The Avatar is just here for his date! He is human after all! Go on, enjoy yourselves and the evening!" he said heartily_._

That seemed to do the trick as the patrons all look at one another from their tables and decided to just go back to their tea.

Iroh smiled and turned back to Aang. "Welcome, welcome! I haven't seen you in quite a few years, my boy!"

Aang chuckled, "Well, being the Avatar certainly does feed on your time! How is everything with you?"

"Oh you know, busy. _Very_ busy, actually. But that's part of owning a successful tea shop!" Iroh chuckled as well. "But really, I'm doing quite well! How are you doing, young Avatar?"

"Doing great! Katara and I have just finished with a meeting with the Earth Council at the Palace! You should have seen Katara! She really does make a great ambassador! Speaking of whom, I'm meeting up with her here; she wanted to tell me something important. Is she here?" Aang asked.

Iroh gave out a big grin. "Why yes she is! She's in one of the private tea booths!" His expression changed into a thoughtful look as he put a hand on his beard. "Although, she did looked rather bothered about something."

"Really?" asked a concerned Aang. "Hmm…well, it has been a tiring day. The Earth Kingdom diplomats, along with the Water Tribe and Fire Nation ambassadors were discussing about trade markets. Then the Fire Nation requested on helping with rebuilding more cities of the Earth Kingdom, which made the Earth Council very wary on why they would. They've been arguing back and forth about that." Aang frowned. "You know, during these four years of peace, they would have made it a priority to get along. That's probably what was bothering her."

Iroh nodded. "I would think so. Being an ambassador certainly is an exhausting job." He smiled again. "Well then, I suppose I should lead you to her! Maybe you can cheer her up! I'll let someone will guide you to your booth. Hold on for one second." He looked around to find a young waitress passing them. He called out to her. "Pardon me, Jin?"

A pretty young woman with brown hair that was kept in a messy ponytail stopped and turned to Iroh with a smile. "Yes sir?" she said sweetly.

"Please show our special guest to private booth number four, if you will." Iroh said.

Jin nodded and was about to guide Aang to the booth until she got a good look at him. She gasped, "Oh my gosh! You're the Avatar!" she said excitedly.

Aang smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yep. In the flesh."

"Oh my goodness! So that _was_ Lady Katara that came in! Wow! I can't believe it! Real celebrities from the war! And it's Aang and Katara, a.k.a. Kataang, one of the most famous couples!"

Aang blinked. "I'm…sorry?"

Iroh chuckled, "Oh, it's just these gossip papers that everyone is printing around these parts of the city. They decided to call each pairing a name."

"Oh…" Aang said, raising an eyebrow, a little confused by it. "Um…alright then."

Jin put on a bright smile and giggled. "Oh, this is so COOL! Please follow me if you will." she motioned Aang to follow her.

Aang bid Iroh farewell for now and followed Jin. While following Jin, he noticed that when he first saw her, the waitress uniform on Jin was quite…form fitting, accentuating parts of her body, mostly at her chest area. Aang shook his head at such thoughts. He really thought he would be passed this stage. Not that he would do anything lecherous, Spirit World no, but he would have…thoughts once in a while about a woman's body every time he meets an attractive woman. But then again, it was normal to have thoughts like this, right? I mean, he IS a guy, after all.

Aang mentally cringed as he remembered that talk Sokka gave him when he turned thirteen.

'_Aang, don't worry, you're not strange for thinking stuff like this! …Even though this is my sister you're talking about. But that's all a part of being a man! Your mind is supposed to get all wrapped up on thinking about girls in…uh, sexy positions, and noticing…um, different things about their appearances and…ugh, do we have to talk about my SISTER here? Anyways, you're just blossoming into a young, ordinary guy! I get these thoughts too when I'm around Suki! …Um, forget I said that. I don't want you imaging her that way…and telling her I said that. And again, don't worry, by all means, you can imagine anything you want about my sister…just don't do it, ya hear me? That goes for any other images you have towards other pretty women. Think, but don't do. …And just for future references, please don't describe any fantasies/images to me about my little sis. You keep those to yourself. …*ahem*…Okay then…well, uh…glad we have this talk.'_

"Here is your booth, Avatar Aang!" Jin said, breaking out of Aang's thoughts.

Aang thanked Jin and opened the thick curtain to see…

…Katara in all her beautiful glory.

Katara was sitting in a booth seat with her hands folded on her lap. Aside from her seat was her blue parka. Her attire was a blue flowing dress that exposes half of her shoulders, with the bottom of her dress stopped right above her feet. Her hair still sported that beautiful wavy water hairstyle, with just a little bit of hair loopies, except they were braided, framing her pretty face. The last thing he notices was her betrothal necklace wrapped around her neck.

Through the years, Katara developed into a beautiful young woman, having high cheek-bones, a more curvaceous and slender body, and beautiful legs. Aang also noticed other…attributes on her body along the years, such as her small, but moderate sized breasts, to a nicely sized posterior.

He was certainly content to have such a beautiful girlfriend, Aang thought with a smile.

However, her face looked downcast when he entered the booth. Katara, surprised and a little poignant when she looked up at Aang, stood up. "Aang…"

"Katara!" he said with a grin. He walked over to her and gave her a hug, all the while loving the feel of her body. Katara was however, hesitant on hugging him for a moment, but hugged him back nonetheless.

"Awww! How sweet! You two make the cutest couple!" Jin said in adoration. Jin then pulled a notepad out and an ink pen and said, "So, what would you two lovebirds like?" she said slyly.

Katara looked like she was about to say something when Aang said, "Some of your famous jasmine tea, please!"

"Coming right up!" Jin smiled brightly as she wrote it down and left the booth.

As soon as they were alone, Aang looked at Katara with a great big smile. Katara, however though, still holds the poignant look on her face. Aang now noticed this and his smile soon faded away. "What's wrong?"

Katara stood there for a moment and glanced up. "Can we sit down?"

"Um…sure." Aang said.

They sat down on the seat of the curved booth, the table dividing them as they sat across from each other.

Moments passed, and Aang was getting a little fidgety. He decided to ask, "Are you okay, Katara?"

Katara gazed up at Aang. Her expression contained hesitation. She sighed before finally saying, "Aang, you know I love you, right?"

Aang smiled. "Of course."

She continued. "And you know that I will always care about you no matter what, right? We've known each other too long for that not to be the case."

Aang blinked. "O…kay?"

Katara glanced down. "I just don't want you to think badly of me when I say this to you. After all, we've been together for four years, and I've been happy with you the entire time. But I can't continue on like this without telling you something first."

Aang felt uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Katara, you're talking weird. What do you need to tell me?" he said tentatively.

She closed her eyes and gave out a deep breath. She opened them and looked directly at Aang, while reaching out for his hand that was on the table and holding it. Aang, quite confused with this gesture(but secretly all the while enjoying the feel of her touch), looked down at her hand on his, and back at her.

"Aang…look …um…I…think…we should…break up."

…Silence…

Save for a few people quietly chatting and laughing, which didn't help the situation.

"…What?"

"Here's your jasmine tea, Avatar Aang and Lady Katara!" Jin came back into the booth with a smile, along with a tray filled with two teapots and two porcelain cups.

"You're breaking up with me?" Aang said dejectedly in shock, ignoring their waitress.

Jin blinked. She then noticed the expressions on their faces. Aang looked shocked, while Katara looked sad. "…Um…I'll just…" she awkwardly placed the tray on the table and left.

Katara sighed sadly, "Aang, this isn't easy for me to do, but…I think we should break up."

"…W…Why? I-is this a joke?" Aang miserably asked.

Katara looked shocked. "Aang, you know I wouldn't do something like that…" She lowered her eyes onto her lap. "Look, I…I have to come clean. …All I ever wanted was to make you happy."

Aang was frightfully confused. "W-what do you mean? What did I do? I-I mean…Have I gave you little attention? Too much attention? W-what is it!?"

Katara felt the tears about to appear, but holds them back. "It's just that…" She lets out a shuddering breath. "Aang…please know that…all the time that I've spent with you…those were great." She looks up at Aang and softly smiles. "I've always cherished them."

"Then…why are you breaking up with me?" Aang said, hopelessly lost and confused.

Katara's smile then faltered into a sad frown. "I…I tried to make this work, but…the love I felt for you…wasn't reciprocated love."

"What!? Wasn't _reciprocated_!?" Aang was at a loss of words.

"Aang…" Katara was trying really hard not to cry. "Just…please listen." She took another shaky breath. "…Remember the day when we kissed at the balcony at Iroh's teashop?"

"Yes…" Aang says, eyes so sad and frowning.

Katara lowers her head down a bit solemnly as she continues. "Well…I admit, when we shared that kiss, it was special…but, I wasn't sure at the time. I wasn't sure if I felt that way about you. I mean, I admired you for what you did for the whole world, but…not romantically. Maybe there was a time that I thought I did have feelings for you, and maybe I did…but I wanted to see if that's _really _true…as the months passed, we were together…and…during that time, I started to realized…that I'm using this love wrongly…I was with you so I could make _you_ happy. In reality…I felt like I was just _using_ _you_ as a test. I tried to deny it, but…as the years passed by, when we started going to council meetings, and while we were separated…it gave me more time to think about what I've been doing…" She looks up to Aang, unshed tears sparkling in her eyes. "I just don't want to feel like I'm using you as a test to see if I can be happy with you too! I know you love me Aang, but…I…I…I just don't think I feel the same way about you!"

Aang was flabbergasted. "…What?"

"Oh Aang, I'm so sorry!" Tears were starting to form in Katara's eyes. "I tried to see if a romantic relationship could work out, but….oh _spirits_…I feel like…I feel like a _floozy_! I just wanted to see if I really do feel the same way! I…I just _didn't know_! I never did!" Katara broke down, sobbing. "I just wasn't sure where this relationship was heading! Oh spirits, Aang, please, _please_ forgive me! I-I…I'm _SO SORRY_!"

Aang couldn't believe it…all this time when they were together…Katara wasn't sure of their relationship? She possibly didn't feel the same way that he does for her? She…was just with him so she could make him happy?

He didn't know what to do. Should he be mad? Feel betrayed? It was all too much to sink in…

Thankfully no one came in wondering what's wrong. She wasn't sobbing loudly, so it's good that no one like Iroh checked into their booth to see if everything was alright.

Still…what can Aang do in this situation? Could he run away? Sit there and cry as well?

Aang sat there thinking.

First of all, Aang loves Katara, pure and simple. She was the first one he fell in love with. Ever since he broke out of the iceberg in the South Pole, he admired her. She was caring, nice, sweet, and passionate about things. She always looks out for one another, taking care of others in need. She was the most selfless person he has ever met.

But for her to admit something like this…does he think lowly of her now?

…Or should he blame himself?

Around the years, Aang let go of his goofy childlike attitude to be more mature in his Avatar businesses. …Well, a little. He loves to goof around once in a while. But he has grown mature during the years and remembers all the times when he was twelve that he tried to force himself onto Katara. He mentally cringed at those memories. He really didn't know how to communicate with women back then, and of course Sokka wasn't any help. He did try asking Zuko for help; he said to always listen to their feelings and their wants. He's been doing that for four years, yet she now admits that she wasn't truly and deeply in _LOVE _with him.

When he thought about that…he remembered what Katara said;_ I just don't want to feel like I'm using you as a test to see if I can be happy with you too! I know you love me Aang, but…I…I…I just don't think I feel the same way about you!_

In other words…Katara was feeling pressured the whole time. She was with him just so he could be happy. But she wasn't…no wonder there were fewer kisses, and more hugs and embraces lately. He should've seen it coming.

And the worse part of it all is…he realized that the whole thing was _his _fault.

The time that he kissed her when the Day of Black Sun was nearing...it made her realize that he loved her…yet he hadn't realized that she didn't love him in that way…he just assumed that she did. And when he tried kissing her again at Ember Island, she wanted him to stop and also said that she wasn't sure…and it was true…she wasn't sure.

Aang, in his immature quest to get his dream girl, never considered that her feelings weren't the same as his.

It was _HIS _fault.

And here Katara was, crying, asking for forgiveness, thinking that she did this to herself.

Katara continued sobbing. "I'm SO sorry!" She said as she softly weeps.

Aang couldn't take this. So he did the only thing that was appropriate.

He scooted over to Katara and slowly gave her a warm, sweet, and comforting hug, letting her head rest on his right shoulder.

Katara, shocked at the contact, choked out a sob and said, "W…what?"

"Katara…" Aang said sadly as he frowns into her shoulder, "…please don't be sorry."

Confused, Katara asks stammering, "W-why not? I-it was -" she sniffled. "It's all m-my fault!"

"_No_." Aang said forcefully, which made Katara's eyes widen in surprise. "No…it was never your fault…_I'm _the one that should be sorry."

"Wha…what do you mean?" Katara asked.

"Katara…I'm _so sorry _for forcing myself like that on you those three years ago. I didn't mean to pressure you into thinking that we could be something more. I…I finally realized that _I've_ done this. I'm the one who's at fault here…don't _ever_ say it's your fault."

Katara was astounded, her mouth slightly agape onto his shoulder. "…But…"

"Katara…_I_ was the one who rushed you. It was _me _who was the selfish one. _I _was the one who caused this…I'M sorry…" Aang was tearing up as well. "…I'm _so_…_SO _sorry…" A few tears dripped from his face.

She didn't know what to say…Katara was touched. "…Aang…"

"I'm sorry, Katara…I…I never thought once that you wouldn't return my feelings…" Aang quivered. "…I was scared! I was just a scared child that couldn't understand! Now that I've done this to you…" he sobbed. "I don't even know if I should be considered as a _friend_! I'm the one that should be sorry!" He hugged her tighter, but this time in a brotherly way, as he shed tears. "P-please…forgive me! Forgive _me_ for being such a lousy friend!"

They sat there for a while not moving. Their tea was getting cold. Aang was still crying.

Katara sat still…

…Until she wrapped her arms around Aang tenderly.

Aang felt her embrace, and seized his tears.

"…Aang…of course I forgive you…and you're not a lousy friend, _never_." Katara sniffled as she smiled. "…_Thank you_…"

He heard the words that came from Katara…Aang gave out a tearful smile.

They hold onto each other for a few more seconds…until they let go. They regained their composures, staring at each other with red puffy eyes and smiles, feeling a tremendous weight off their shoulders.

"Wow…" said Aang. "…so…we're breaking up, huh?"

Katara looked at Aang sadly. "Look, Aang, I really am sorry. But…don't think this is the end here. Even though this didn't work out…there will always be someone out there who will love you. I just know it. You _will _find that special someone."

Aang sadly nodded with a smile. "I know…and I don't want to ruin what we already have in the first place."

Katara smiled sweetly as she placed a hand on Aang's shoulder and says, "…Aang…you've really _have_ grown…"

Aang placed his hand on hers that was on his shoulder. "I have you to thank for that."

At that response, Katara's smile was even more radiant. She placed another hand on his other shoulder to tilt him forward so that she can give him a kiss on the forehead.

Aang blushed, but for two reasons; the kiss on the forehead of course; but the other reason was that he can see a little bit of her small cleavage when she bent in front of him. As she let go, Katara still had a gentle smile on her face.

"Aang, I know this is hard for you…but please know that I _do_ love you. You're a great friend, and I do _love you_ for that. Maybe not romantically, but…as a _really_ good friend…" Katara said, hoping he would understand.

Aang's smile solemnly broadened at that. Should he be sad at this statement? He would…but he shouldn't. Aang HAS matured…and wants to prove that. "I know…and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Katara gazed at Aang with warmth. She then decided to show her gratitude as she hugged him as well. "Aang…I am _so __**proud**_of you."

'_Proud…she's proud of me.' _Aang's smile widened even more. "…Katara…thank you." He said sincerely as he hugged her back.

They stayed like that for a while, until they let go of each other.

Aang chuckled and said awkwardly, "Well, um…I guess we won't be having that tea…heh…"

Katara smiled sadly, "I can take care of the tab if you want me to."

"Nonsense." He pulled out a clipped wallet out of his pocket. He got out some gold pieces and put them on the table. "I think that covers it." He said with a smile.

Katara stared at the gold pieces in bewilderment. "Where did you…?"

Aang chuckled, "Well, being the Avatar has its perks."

Katara blinked, but then giggled, "Well, you certainly know how to treat a woman then."

Aang laughed. He then looked at Katara, gazing at how_ beautiful _she looks.

Could he do it? Could he live his life without Katara? During his life, Aang has been with her for so long, he really felt attached to her. Could he really let her go, like Guru Pathik said to him four years ago?

'_I have to. …I need to let her go.'_

Aang closed his eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled it out. He opened them again to look at Katara.

"…Katara…again…_thank you_." Aang said. He then gave her a kiss on the cheek. He stood up from his seat and began to exit out of the sealed off booth.

Katara smiled warmly at her good friend. "Aang…"

Aang stopped as he turned his head to Katara.

"…I _really am proud_ of you." She said with so much loving emphasis on those three words.

Aang smiled that goofy smile, but this time it was an understanding one. He nodded to her and exited out of the booth.

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><p>He walked across the tea shop and spotted Iroh. Iroh saw him and gave him a smile, but it looked forced. He probably heard the news from Jin.<p>

"Are you leaving so soon?" Iroh said, trying to hide his grief for Aang.

But what surprised Iroh was that Aang's expression was not of despair, but of content.

"Yeah, sorry. I left the money on the table, though." Aang smiled at Iroh.

"Um…okay…" Iroh said, dumbfounded.

Aang smile shifted into a thoughtful one. "Hey, don't worry, Iroh. Katara and I had a good talk. It's okay. Thank you for your concern. And thank you for the tea." He patted Iroh on the shoulder and made his way out of the tea shop.

Iroh gazed at the leaving form of the Avatar and smiled as well. Jin, along with a male waiter, came over next to Iroh.

"Sir…is the Avatar going to be okay?" said a concerned Jin.

Iroh grinned. "I think he will be fine…he is the Avatar after all."

The male waiter looked over at the direction of where Aang was. "…You know, speaking of fine, he has such a nice butt from here."

Iroh and Jin blinked and turned their heads to the male waiter with a glower look on their faces. The waiter just looked at them nonchalantly for a moment, sighed and said, "Yeah, yeah, I know, keep it to yourself, blah, blah, blah…but you have to admit, it is a nice fanny." the gay waiter then went back to work.

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><p>As time went on, Aang still kept going to council meetings, and always runs into Katara every once and a while, having good talks with each other. Katara usually keeps him up to date about current events, such as Sokka and Suki were living in the South Pole right now. Suki agreed to live in the South Pole during the spring and summer while Ty Lee replaced her as teacher for a while and taught the other Kyoshi Warriors Even though it was only temporally, she'll bear the cold just to be with her husband. The two got married when he was seventeen and were soon expecting their first child, which made Aang excited to see the baby when he or she was born.<p>

Katara also kept up with Zuko when she visits him in the Palace. Apparently, Zuko has been doing fine…except for the fact that Mai left him because his job was 'ruining' their relationship. This also happened when Aang was seventeen. Zuko was devastated; even so that it affected his Fire Lord duties. When she found out about this, Katara did what she always does best; comfort her friends. She and Zuko talked about their relationships that they had in the past, along with Katara talking about her recent break up with Aang(although she didn't mentioned it to Aang when she was explaining the situation to him.). She assured him that it will be alright and told him that his mother, who was alive and living in the Palace, would want him to succeed on helping his Nation. Zuko felt uncertain about moving on, but realize that his country did need him. So after a couple days, he recovered from his depression and went on back to being Fire Lord. Zuko greatly appreciated Katara for helping him, so much that he rewarded her with a limited supply of chocolates, which Katara loves. Aang wondered if there was some sort of other hidden motive behind Zuko's gratitude…

As for Toph…they haven't heard from her since she sent a letter to Katara telling her that she ran away from her parents' house again. She was sixteen at the time. The reason behind it was that her father was sending her suitors against her own will, so Toph did the Toph-like thing and bailed.

During that amount of time, four years have passed…and this is where our story begins.

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><p><strong>-oOo-<strong>

**Whatchu Lookin' At, TwinkleToes?**

**By TPOC**

**-oOo-**

* * *

><p><strong>Four years later…<strong>

Aang was soaring through the skies on Appa, holding onto the reins that are equipped on his old animal buddy, with Momo resting beside him on the saddle. He sat there, looking over the horizons with a goofy smile on his face.

Aang definitely had grown during that time, now being six foot two(he was six foot tall when he was sixteen.). His shoulders were broader, as he had a little muscle on his arms, and has a good built, even though he was still on the lanky side. He still sports the bald look. Speaking of looks he is wearing a long, orange, sleeveless tunic with a brown neck-line and a brown brim on the bottom of it, complete with a brown belt around his waist. He also has a pair of black loose slacks and a pair of dark brown shin high boots.

Along with going to meetings, Aang was fulfilling his Avatar duties. Unless called, he was helping out people all around the world. It had been stressful at times, what with going into politics, and helping out towns, but it was all worth it.

Aang also visited Sokka, Suki, and their daughter Anuka, at the South Pole while traveling across the world whenever he has the chance. And every time he does visit, it would seem that Anuka has taken a liking to Aang, as she's always reaching her arms out to him, wanting to be carried by him, and rubbing and touching his bald head(in which he still kept the look.). Sokka and Suki also sympathized for Aang when they heard his break up with Katara, which Sokka couldn't believe that happened, but Aang told them it was alright and it didn't bother him as much.

But to be honest, it did kind of bother him from time to time. He wondered what it would've been like if he and Katara were actually in love and together…cuddling…kissing…traveling his hands all over her body…

Aang shook his head. It seems that no matter how mature he's gotten through the years, he cannot stop the hormonal stressed thoughts entering his mind. Oh sure, he pushes them behind the back of his head, but that's when he's being the Avatar. It's when he's alone that starts to make him imagine the pretty women he's met. And…well, being a monk, he doesn't…well…play with himself…

Aang shook his head again, and grunted in frustration. He then heard animal chatter next to him and looked to his right side to see a confused looking Momo. Aang smiled at the furry little lemur-bat and said, "Sorry Momo. Just…having _those_ thoughts again…"

Momo continued to stare at him, until yawning and going back to sleep. Aang turned his attention back to the ever-growing expanse of land in the horizon.

Either way, even from all the imagery of different girls and Katara, he still remains strong through the years though. He and Katara still see each other from time to time. She still remains as beautiful as she always has been.

Aang sighed. Katara. She was his first crush and his first love. They fought in the war together, they danced together, had their first kiss together, and spent the last three years together…but Aang realized now that they were just friends, nothing more…it kind of made him depressed, even if only it was just a few seconds. But no matter how sad he felt, he wouldn't have it any other way. Katara was too precious to him, and if being a friend was what kept him close to her, then so be it.

Speaking of friends…he also wondered how Toph was doing.

The last time he and everyone else saw Toph was when she was fifteen. She went back to her home and to her parents so she could try and settle things with them. They had letters from her(written by a servant, of course.), saying that she was doing fine…until the suitors started coming over and trying to 'woo' her when she turned sixteen.

Aang felt pretty bad for Toph when he heard about that. To think she was this war hero, and now her parents are sending off suitors to try and marry her off against her own will. No wonder she decided to escape from her parents…again.

'_Well, I do hope she's okay.' _thought Aang. No matter how much he thinks his Earthbending sifu can handle herself, she's still his good friend, and he worries about her at times.

Appa gave out a low groan. Aang snapped out of his thoughts and said to his big buddy, "Getting tired, Appa?"

A groan.

"Yeah, I think Momo here is getting a little tired as well." After hearing his name, Momo sluggishly let his head up and let out a silent yawn. "We'll stop some at someplace, don't worry." said Aang.

An appreciative groan.

Aang looked around to see if there was a clear spot of land to camp out for the night. The sun was halfway setting down, so it was basically almost time for supper. He looked around some more until he found a sign of a far off village, thanks to some chimney smoke that was in the distance.

"A village! Alright! Maybe we can stay at an inn and get some food while we're there!"

A happy groan from Appa, followed by some happy chattering from Momo, as he climbed up on Aang's shoulder.

"Alright then, it's settled! Yip yip!" And with that, they ride off to their destination.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile at a tavern far off from the village, three brawny men, each one in their twenties, which each of them consists of early twenties, mid twenties and in their late twenties, were sitting at the bar area, gulping down their mugs full of booze as quickly as they can. The smaller one of the men finished his beer and said, "Ha! I win!" as he slammed his metal mug on the bar table.<p>

The other two men drank the last bit of their alcohol and slammed it down on the bar table as well. "Aw, damn!" said the middle drinker. "Little Fin beat us!"

"Heh heh! Damn straight! Now you guys have to pay the tab!" taunted the smaller man named Fin(which he was of average height compared to his brothers.).

The bigger one, which could be said is the older brother, turned to the bartender and said, "Hey Pops! Why don't you let us have any free drinks around here!? We're your sons, for cryin' out loud!"

The bartender, who was the father of the boys, just gave him a sardonic look and said, "Because that wouldn't be too fair for the customers, Hu Gow! I already told you that a hundred times!"

Hu Gow scratched his bald head. "You did? When?"

The big(but not as big as Hu Gow) middle brother laughed. "Man, has some of the booze affected your brain, or are you just that stupid?"

Hu Gow turned to his brother with a scowl on his face. "Hey, shut up Yoshu! I just have a bad memory!"

"Tch. Yeah, which make you even ten times as stupider!" Fin said.

Hu Gow scowled even further. "Do you want an arm lock around your neck, Fin!?"

"Just pay the tab, Gow!" Fin said as he waved him off.

"Oh, you think you're so cocky now because you were lucky enough to hold your liquor, _little bro_!? How 'bout we do a little bit of wrestling to see who's tougher, huh!?"

Fin slammed his hand on the bar table. "You're on!"

"Hey, I want in on some of this action! Let's make this real interesting!" Youshu intervened. "Whoever pins down their opponent for five seconds loses! The loser will have to pay us the tab _and _will be able to help Pops clean the dishes! I'll be the referee!" he said with a smirk.

"Sounds good to me! You ready for some of this, Tiny!?" Fin got up from his bar stool and spread his arms out as to say a 'come and get it' invitation to Hu Gow. The rest of the tavern goers and servers heard the whole exchange and hooted and hollered, ready to see some wrestling entertainment.

Their father however, shouted, "Boys, you shouldn't make so much racket around while your sister and mother are taking their naps!" but it all fell on deaf ears as the hollering customers at the tavern drowned out what he was saying.

"Yeah squirt, I'm ready!" Hu Gow taunted.

"Well then, let's settle this! Hey! Move all the tables so we can get this started!" Fin called out to the tavern customers.

Most of the people in the tavern all got up and moved the tables, which made the loud sound of tables and chair legs dragging on the stone floor. The father just rest his elbows on the bar table and put his right hand on his forehead while shaking his head in dismay.

"Alright! You ready for this!?" shouted Fin.

"You bet your skinny ass, baby bro! Although I don't think it will be a fair fight despite I'm bigger than ya!" Hu Gow taunted.

"Tch, I'm surprised you know what 'despite' means!" mocked Fin.

"Whatchu say!?" Hu Gow yelled.

"Alright, enough talk!" called out Yoshu. "Let's get ready!"

"Boys, honestly…" their father groaned.

Fin and Hu Gow all got in position at the makeshift arena as the tavern goers all cheered for the fight to begin. Fin cracked his neck, while Hu Gow cracked his knuckles.

"Okay, let's get started! On your mark…"

Fin arrogantly smirked at Hu Gow.

"…Get set…"

Hu Gow narrowed his eyes at Fin, ready to take him down.

"…WRESTL-!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL DOING DOWN HERE!?"

The cheering stopped as the locals were all wide eyed with horror, including the three brothers. The sight they saw was a angry looking short woman(possibly five foot three) that looked to be in her fifties, and was standing near a set of stairs that lead to the second floor of the tavern/house.

"I warned you three." The father/bartender shook his head as he went back to drying off a mug.

"JUST WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE SPIRIT WORLD IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT!?" hollered the woman.

"M-Mom! Um, uh, w-we were j-just, uh-" Fin stuttered, his cool demeanor gone, replaced with anxiety.

"T-this isn't what it looks like! I was in no way part of this!" Yoshu said nervously.

"M-Momma! W-we didn't know you were sleeping! W-we thought you were still out grocery shopping! Ah, uh, w-w-we…Dad, how come you didn't told us!?" Hu Gow said in a panic to their dad.

"I did. But apparently, you three and everyone else were all hollering like drunks to not hear me." The father casually said as he turned to his wife. "Go easy on them, Kusa."

Kusa crossed her arms over her chest and said, "They're lucky I AM going easy on them, considering on who else they woke up!"

Everyone's eyes(except for the father, who just chuckled and said something along the lines of, "Hoo boy…") were wide with terror.

"Y-you…" Yoshu gulped. "You mean…_she's_ here as well? W-we woke up…l-little sis?" he said the last two words in a weak voice.

"Oh _hell_ _no_, I'm gettin' out of here!" said a frightened customer who made a mad dash out of the tavern, followed soon by every other customer in the tavern. Even the servers ran out of the place.

"Oh crap! Everyone get out while all of you still can!"

"I knew this was a bad time to drink!"

"MOMMY!"

"Hey! You didn't pay!" the bartender shouted.

"I'll pay some other time! I just want to LIVE!" the customer said hysterically.

And soon the tavern goers all exited the premises, leaving just the three brothers and the father and wife.

"Heh heh! Bunch of babies." chuckled Kusa. She looked at her three sons who were too petrified to move. "Well, before you three wet your pants, you should be grateful I'm here instead of her! I told her I could handle the situation, and quite frankly, I think the situation is solved! So when you look at it a different way, I just saved your lives!" she said with a smirk.

The three brothers all stood their ground, not sure if it was safe to move. Fin then nervously said, "R-really? Y-you mean…we're going to be okay?"

"Ooooh no! You guys are still in trouble! What with your hollering, your wrestling, and your tomfoolery! Hu Gow, Yoshu, Fin!" she said to all of them. "No rock lifting for one week, starting now!"

"What!? Oh come on Momma!" complained Hu Gow.

"B-but, I didn't do anything!" whined Yoshu.

"Aw, come on Mom, I gotta stay in shape for the ladies!" Fin also whined.

"You all want to make that two?"

The brothers sputtered, trying to interject, but didn't want to risk say anything else to lengthen the punishment, so all three of them crossed their arms and pouted.

"Now set everything back the way it was!" she gestured the tables and chairs that were placed across the tavern.

The boys all grumbled and muttered a "Yes, ma'am…" before they went to move the tables and chairs back to their respectful places.

When they were finished, a local woman came in the tavern through the door with an excited look on his face, "Miss Kusa! Mr. Hunji! You won't believe it! The Avatar has come to our village! He just landed on the square!"

The brothers and the parents' eyes all widen. "Really?" Hunji the father said incredulously.

"The Avatar? Are you serious!?" Kusa said in amazement.

"Yes! You have to come see for yourself!" the woman was then off to the direction of the square.

"The Avatar? Hey, this I got to check out!" said Yoshu with a smile.

"Yeah! We have a real live celebrity in the village!" Fin grinned.

"Last one there has to sweep the whole tavern floor!" Hu Gow quickly said. They all quickly ran through the door until…

"WAIT A MINUTE!" yelled Kusa.

The brothers stopped in their tracks. "Aww, come on Mom, we put back all the chairs and tables in their rightful places! We wanna see the Avatar!" Yoshu whined.

Kusa shook her head at her middle son's whining. "Just hold on a second, boys. If it is the Avatar, then I'm gonna go get your little sister. She might want to see him." she said with a smirk.

A grin appeared on Hu Gow's face. "Hey, yeah! Little sis would be happy to see the Avatar!"

Kusa nodded. "Now you boys wait there until I get her." Kusa then went back up the stairs.

"Wow. So the Avatar is here, huh? Well aren't we lucky?" Yoshu said, speaking out everyone's thoughts.

"Man, I wonder what he's like?" Hu Gow asked mainly to himself.

"From what little sis had told us about him, he sounds like a pretty decent guy." Fin said.

"She did mention that he doesn't eat any meat. And I definitely respect a guy who doesn't eat meat and does the things he does." Yoshu said.

Fin smiled. "Man, I would really love to hear their war stories."

"Yeah! It's unbelievably awesome that a kid like him stopped a tyranny like that eight years ago!" Hu Gow said with excitement.

Hunji chuckled, "Well, we'll find out soon enough, boys."

After waiting a couple more seconds, Kusa came down the stairs, but their 'little sis' wasn't around.

"Hey, where's little sis?" asked Yoshu.

Kusa grinned cheekily. "She told you all to go see the Avatar while I help her 'freshen up'."

"Freshen up?" Hunji said confused and a little concern. "Why on earth would she do that? She never freshens up! Is she okay?" he asked in concern.

"Oh honey, she's fine. She just wants to look good for the Avatar, if you get my drift." She said with a wink.

Hunji instantly got it. "Ooooh…" He then laughed in relief. "Heh heh heh! Oh, I see!" He kept on chuckling.

The rest of his brothers also catch on to what their mother was saying as they chuckled in amusement as well.

"Man, she is one little minx." Fin said with a snicker.

"Yep! That's our little sis!" Yoshu said with a grin.

"Oh and by the way boys, she wants to keep it a surprise, so…bring the Avatar over to the tavern, will you?" Kusa said to them.

Hu Gow snickered, "Sure thing, Momma! Now…last-one-there-to-see-the-Avatar-sweeps-the-floors!" But his two younger brothers anticipated this and they all dashed out of the tavern before he can even get to the door.

Kusa laughed. "Oh, I can't stay mad at those boys. But they still have to endure their punishment. Now, if you'll excuse me, I got to make my 'daughter' look nice." She then went upstairs.

Hunji softly laughed. "This is about to get _interesting_…"

* * *

><p>Appa softly landed on the ground in the central square of the village. Throngs of people came from every corner of the village to see the Avatar in person.<p>

Aang smiled and waved at the villagers. "Well guys, looks like we struck up yet another crowd." He said to his animal friends.

The kids were petting Appa's face(which Appa enjoyed the attention very much), while the adults were either shouting out his profession to get his attention, or they were fainting by the mere sight of him. But the most attention he was getting from was the women.

"AVATAR! AVATAR! OVER HERE!"

"EEEEEEEE! IT'S THE AVATAR!"

"MARRY ME, AVATAR!"

"I WANNA HAVE YOUR CHILDERN!"

Aang blinked and blushed on that one. "Uh…everyone! Calm yourselves! I just came by to see if you all have a place to stay-!"

"OOOOHHH! STAY WITH ME!"

"NO, ME!"

"HEY HONEY, YOU CAN COME TO MY PLACE ANYTIME!"

Aang blushed even further. "Uh, I-I wasn't finish! I was saying that I just came by to see if you all have place to stay and eat!"

"HA! I WIN, BABY!"

"AHHH, DAMN IT!"

"Whew! At least I'm second…"

Aang blinked again to see of bunch of burly young men running into the crowd. One of them was a short man(but was still of average height.) that was dressed in traditional Earth Kingdom style clothing, but with the sleeves cut off showing his muscled arms, and has short hair. The second man looked taller and was even larger than the other man, and wore the same clothes, including the cut off sleeves, which again, showed bulging muscles. His hair was actually long and reached to the bottom of his neck. The last man, however, was a huge man that wasn't wearing a shirt at all and just the traditional Earth Kingdom pants. He looked more bodybuilder-ish than the other two men, where his muscles are extremely large(but large enough to fit a human body). He was also bald like Aang and was the only one who has a goatee. He would guess by the look of them that they could be brothers…

The spectators looked behind them to see the three brothers dashing and cutting through the crowd.

"Hey! Watch it you guys!" yelled a person from the crowd.

"Sorry, coming through!" yelled the one with long hair.

Aang looked on to see the three men making their way through the crowd. He tilted his in confusion, while Momo, who was still on his shoulder, looked on with same expression.

As the big one first made his way through the throng of people, he looked up to the Avatar. "Wow…so you're the Avatar…" he said in astonishment.

The other two men came through their way to the front of the crowd. The little one said, "Whoa! It really _is_ the Avatar!" he said in amazement.

"Well, I'll be darned…" the middle one said in awe.

Aang scratched the back of his head and sheepishly smiled. "Heh, yep, it's me." He then hopped off Appa and landed gracefully to the ground, while Momo jumped off of Aang's shoulder and flew to the kids that were petting the sky bison.

The little one smirked and said, "Well ain't this a grand occasion! What brings you to the town of Jong Swe?"

"Well, I came to see if you have an inn and a place to eat, so I'm basically here to stay for the night...if you all want me too that is."

"YOU BET YOUR SWEET ASS THAT WE DO!"

Aang and the three brothers, who were startled, looked around the crowd to find the woman who keeps making inappropriate comments.

"Man, I wish I had that much luck with the women…" the small one muttered to himself.

"Of course you can, Avatar!" said a jovial voice.

Aang, the three brothers, and everyone else turned to see a man in his sixties walking through the crowd. He was wearing average looking clothes, but he seems to have a refined atmosphere. Aang would guess that he was the mayor.

"Hey, Moryu! Better late than never!" Hu Gow waved at the man.

Moryu laughed and said, "Well these old bones aren't what they used to be!"

The middle brother then said onto Aang, "Mr. Avatar, this is the mayor of Jong Swe, Moryu!"

Aang chuckled, "Please, call me Aang. And nice to meet you sir." He shook his hand.

Moryu chuckled as well, "Alright then, Mr. Aang! Welcome to Jong Swe! And these three gentlemen that just greeted you are our town's strongest earthbenders, The Bowling Boulder Brothers! By the oldest to the youngest, Hu Gow, Yoshu, and Fin!"

"Well, nice to meet you guys too!" Aang said with a smile as he put out his hand to shake the hand of the older brother. Hu Gow happily shook it, his large hand enwrapping Aang's slightly big hand, squeezing it and giving it a firm shake, which made Aang's hand hurt just a little bit, but kept a straight face nonetheless.

"It's honor to meet you Ava-I mean, Aang!" Hu Gow said gleefully.

Then Yoshu came and shook his hand, which also was a hard firm handshake, but not as painful as Hu Gow's. "Heh, looks like you got some muscle on those arms yourself, Aang!" Yoshu complimented.

Aang put his hand to the back of his in embarrassment. "Well, I tend to try to earthbend when I have the time." He said with chuckle.

"And it shows!" Fin came up to him and gave him a good firm handshake.

"Say, Moryu! Since Aang here wants to stay for a bit, would it be okay if he stayed at our Mom and Dad's place at the _tavern_?" Yoshu said to the mayor, putting slight emphasis on 'tavern', hoping he would get the hint.

Moryu did get the hint, and said, "Oh why sure!" he turned to Aang and said, "The tavern here serves up some of the best meals in the village, Avatar Aang! Why don't Hu Gow, Yoshu, and Fin lead you there?"

"That sounds fine to me!" Aang happily obliged.

"Alright, then come on ahead and follow us!" Fin said as he gestured to follow him and his brothers.

* * *

><p>"Well what do you know!? It really <em>is<em> the Avatar!" a plump, but strong looking man with a beard said.

Aang, who left Momo and Appa behind with the kids(they needed the play time), entered the almost full tavern, now that the locals are coming in again. Apparently as he was going through the crowd, he got pinched on the butt multiple times by a couple of horny women, which got a laugh out of the Bowling Boulder Brothers, but pretty much embarrassed poor Aang.

"Aang, this is our Pops!" Hu Gow introduced.

"Hello there! The name's Hunji! Welcome to our village, Avatar Aang!" Hunji said as he shook Aang's hand.

"Heh heh. Really, please. You don't have to call me Avatar, just call me Aang. It kind of makes me feel old." Aang joked.

"Hahaha! And yet you're still looking great!" Hunji laughed heartily.

Aang blinked in confusion, but got the joke a second later. "Oh, uh, heh heh! Yeah, I hope so!" he chuckled.

The brothers sniggered also, until Fin said, "Hey, Aang, why not you sit at the bar and get yourself a drink?"

"Um…well, to tell you guys the truth, I, uh…don't really drink." Aang said awkwardly.

"Don't drink!?" Fin and Yoshu said in shock and horror.

"Now boys, he IS the Avatar. He has to keep a clean image, after all." Hunji informed.

"Well, yeah, I guess, but…what kind of grown man doesn't drink once in a while!? I mean, no offense, but that's crazy! Avatars have to drink sometime!" Yoshu exaggerated.

"Hey, I think it's okay if he doesn't want to drink. We sure as heck don't let Mom drink, at least not too much. Remember last fall?" Hu Gow said.

The brothers shuddered at the memory.

"Um…what happened?" asked Aang.

"Let's just say that my wife is a very good dancer when she's drunk…" Hunji smirked.

"Ugh, Dad! We don't want to go through that road again, and I honestly don't think Aang would want to like to hear about Mom's drunkenness!" Fin exclaimed while he and his brothers were grabbing their foreheads and shuddering off the image.

"O...kay…" Aang blinked.

"Heh heh! Anyways, care for a seat, Aang?" Hunji gestures a bar stool.

"Um, sure." Aang took his seat on the bar stool.

"So what do the Avatars like to usually eat nowadays?" Hunji asked.

"Well…uh, for me, do you have anything that's vegetarian?" Aang inquired.

"Aha! So it is true!" Yoshu shouted, startling Aang and his brothers.

"Uh…what's true?" Aang said confused.

"…Uh…" Yoshu's eyes shift around frantically. "I-I heard you, uh…like to eat veggies! Just wanted to make sure, eh-heh…" Yoshu smiled a nervous fake smile.

Aang blinked. "Um, okay…" he smiled.

Hunji rolled his eyes at his son. "Anyways, sure we do Aang! I'll fix up the best vegetable plate you'll ever see in this village! Coming right up! Boys, if you would help your old man in the kitchen…" Hunji said.

"Sure thing, Pops!" said Hu Gow.

"Uh, right behind ya!" said Yoshu.

"Comin' right over!" said Fin.

And the three brothers went to help their dad in the kitchen, leaving Aang waiting on the bar stool.

Aang smiled at the retreating figures at they went to the kitchen. Despite having his butt pinched by multiple women, the people here were very nice enough to let him stay here for the night. Of course he didn't want to be a burden when it came to feeding him, but it seems like time he enters a village or city for that matter, everyone wants to serve him a meal just because he's the Avatar.

"Is this seat taken, Mr. Avatar?" a sweet feminine voice broke out of his thoughts.

Aang turned to answer the voice…

…only to have his eyes widened and face blush as he noticed the short-sleeved shirt that the woman was wearingshowed a lot of…cleavage…lots of it.

'_Holy mother of…' _Aang's eyes were glued to the woman's chest. "Uh, um, ah…" he stuttered.

A chuckle. "Is that a yes or a no?"

Aang snapped out of his trance and realized that he was staring at the woman's huge ra-I mean, he realized he was staring at her breasts-uh, chest! Yeah…that's what he meant. Either way, he quickly apologized, "Uh-ah-s-sorry! I-I didn't mean to-"

He looked up to see her face, but strangely enough, the only visible thing he can see(the tavern was a little dim.) was her mouth, which her lips her coated with black lip rouge, and long strands of raven hair on each side of her face. Her arms were exposed to show that she had a bit of good female muscle on them. Her outfit also consists of a hoodie that's draped on her head, covering her eyes completely. She was also wearing baggy brown pants complete with Earth Kingdom shoes.

"Oh don't worry about it! I get that reaction all the time." she said with a pretty smile. Aang's heart fluttered when he saw it. She continued, "So, is this seat taken or not?"

"U-uh…n-no, it-" Aang gulped. "…i-it's not."

"Alright then." The woman then sat down on the bar stool and crossed her arms to lean on the bar table, her breasts basically almost resting on top of them and making even more huge…

Aang shook his head. "Uh…uh…um…I, uh-"

The woman quietly chuckled, "For an Avatar, you're not very good with words."

Aang snapped out of it and said, "Oh, uh, *ahem*, s-sorry, I just…uh-"

"Why, it really _is _the Avatar!" another woman's voice called out. Aang gratefully thanked whichever spirit was watching him in that situation and turned to the voice that was in the bar booth, which was a smiling short woman that was in her fifties and was sporting a braided ponytail.

"Well, I'll be! This certainly is a great surprise! The name's Kusa, Mr. Avatar!" she introduced herself.

Aang smiled and shook her hand, "Nice to meet you!"

"I'm guessing you already met my husband and my three boys?" she asked.

"Heh, yep!" Aang said.

Kusa chuckled, "Well you are certainly welcome here anytime you want to stop by, Mr. Avatar!"

Aang grinned and shook his head at everyone calling him 'Avatar'. "Really, call me Aang."

Kusa laughed, "Well alright then, Aang!" She then noticed the woman who was sitting at the bar. "Oh! Is this your little date?" She said slyly.

Aang, surprised, blush a deep red and stuttered. "Wha-uh-no! I-I just met her!"

Kusa sniggered. "Oh dear! Well, I'm so sorry then! Well, since you two are the only ones sitting in the bar, what would you two like to drink?"

The woman smiled. "Some Fire Whiskey, please."

Aang blinked in shock. "You drink Fire Whiskey!? I heard that stuff is strong!"

The woman smirked. "Of course I do! It's just the way I like it!"

"Alright then! And for you, Aang?" Kusa said.

Aang turned to Kusa. "Oh, um, nothing to for me, thank you. Your husband and your sons are in the kitchen by the way."

"Heh heh, thanks for the telling me, I've been wondering where those rascals are! So what didja get?" Kusa asked.

"Um, a vegetable plate, to be more specific." Aang said.

Kusa smiled. "Growing man needs his vegetables, eh?" she laughed. She turned to the woman. "I'll be right back with your whiskey ma'am!" She then went to the inventory to get the Fire Whiskey.

While she did that the woman turned her head to Aang, "So…just Aang, huh? Don't like to be formal?" she said with another smile.

Aang doesn't know why, but her smile was just so alluring. Maybe it had to do with those beautiful cheekbones she has. He once again snapped out of his thoughts and said, "Uh, w-well, yeah, you know, I…I mean, I'm just like everyone else."

"Here you go, miss." Kusa said as she laid the shot glass next to her hand.

"Thank you." The woman said as she grabbed the small glass. She slowly lets it to her lips and almost instantly, gulps it down. She lands the glass on the bar table. "Whew! Strong, but with a satisfying aftertaste!"

Aang blinked in amazement at the quick consumption. _'Wow…this girl is tough!'_

Kusa glanced behind her back, "If you'll excuse me for just a moment, I'm going to go check up on the guys in the kitchen. Be right back!" she said as she walked to the kitchen, leaving the two alone at the bar table.

"So, just like everyone else, huh?" the woman said as she circled the top of her glass with her finger.

"Uh..." Aang gulped again. "Y-yeah, just-just like everyone…else…" he said as he timidly looked away, trying not to be entranced by the woman's smile…and her chest…

"You seem kind of tense." she said.

"T-tense? Why would you t-think I'm tense?" Aang stuttered.

She smiled again, that beautiful smile. "Oh…just a feeling." She said as she turned her head to him and rests it on her left hand. The left side of her breasts were touching the edge of the bar table, making Aang flushed even more.

"Hey…" said the woman as she raised her right hand and plopped it on his left shoulder, making Aang jump. "You should relax. Going around the world and being the Avatar can be a little stressful, I would think." She then let it trailed down on his arm and gave it a squeeze, making Aang jump again. "Hmm…you got some nice muscles there. I'm guessing you being the Avatar, you do a lot of earthbending."

"Ah, u-um-" Aang was sweating, his heart beating. "W-well…I do some earthbending from time to time."

She chuckled. "Whoever taught you earthbending must have been a good teacher."

"Uh…y-yes, she was."

"She, hm? I never heard of a female earthbender before. She must've been one strong gal." She said with her hand still on his arm.

"Oh um, s-she was…"

"Would you like to meet her again?"

Aang blinked. "Uh…well, I would, but I don't really know where she is to be honest. …Also, I don't think she would want me to tell you why."

"Why's that?"

"Well…for one, it's kind of a long story, and two, if she was here right now, she would probably try to hit me upside the head if I were to tell you, but-ack!"

The woman then yanked his arm to pull him close, making his bar stool topple over and making him stumble a bit on the ground, but was halted by her left foot that was planted on his chest.

Aang blinked and looked at her shoe…no wait…the bottom sole of her shoe looked like it was cut off…only exposing the bottom of her foot. Aang remembered only Toph using this footwear when they were escaping from the Fire Nation six years ago…

Aang's eyes widen in shock. He looked back at the woman's face to get a closer look at who she is, now that he's close to it.

But the woman did Aang a favor and pulled the hoodie off to reveal…

Aang's jaw dropped.

"Now what makes you think I would do that, TwinkleToes?" Toph said with a sly grin.

'…_.Well…damn…' _Aang thought.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, this was an extremely long first chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it! :)<strong>

**Also, please tell how I did! I'm not very good with politics and all that stuff, and sometimes I'm not too sure if I got it right, so tell me if you bought into that 'Katara being an ambassador and doing other stuff' thing.**

**AND for the people who thought that Toph was out-of-character, come on, she was teasing him. I would think that Toph is the type of gal that likes to mess people, let it be verbally, or suggestively. I mean, come on, she's older now. I bet she uses the old Toph 'charm' sometimes. ;) **

**And before I end this author's note, I would like to give credit for the inspiration of this older version of Toph in my story by an artist in DA that goes by the name of 'morganagod'. This version of Toph is not really like his version, as I modified a few things about her just a bit, but this story version of Toph was kind of based on his version. If you want to see what kind of image I'm going for Toph in this story, it's easier to go DA(DeviantArt) and type in the search bar 'Older Toph', and find the picture that says 'Older Toph's Secret'. **

**But yeah, if you want, check out his art! He has some cool art. Let it be portraits, funny art, and sexy art, he's a talented artist. :)**

**Anywho, please tell me what you think with a nice review! :D **

**(-)**

**SUPER EDIT: Okay, I made some MASSIVE CHANGES here. To be honest, I kind of cringed at what I recently wrote back then. I was still in my beginner stages of writing, and I didn't get a full grasp of what I was planning at that moment. So yeah, I changed the break up **_**immensely**_**. I feel like it needed that change, because it really looked like I didn't handle that properly. So excuse me for my very bad planning on that part. XP Also, I changed what Aang was doing during all those years. I kind of admit, what I originally planned was kind of sloppy, so…do forgive me on that. DX But yeah, I hope everything at least sounds better from what I originally wrote. PLEASE leave me a review of critique and tell me if I did well or not with this change. :)**

**Thanks for reading! And for those reading it again to see the changes, thanks so much again! 8D**

**-TSP**


	2. Catching Up

**OH MY GOSH, FINALLY! Sorry for the long wait, people! I was so busy with my other stories, I completely neglected this one! PLEASE **_**FORGIVE **_**ME! D:**

**Well, no time for apologies! Time to start out where we left off! :D**

**And by the way, thank you all so much for the reviews! I love them all! :)**

**REVISED: 4/7/2014**

* * *

><p><em>Up in the second level of the tavern, a sleeping blind girl was stirring in her sleep. Her face grimacing at every sound that erupted from the bottom level below, she growled to herself.<em>

'_**Dammit, seriously, could those dunderheads keep their loud traps to themselves?'**_

_After a tiring afternoon of being dragged 'girl shopping' with Kusa, Toph just wanted to rest her aching legs and feet and just sleep. They would have shopped longer, but thankfully for Toph, Kusa realized she was tiring her out. So they stopped for the day and went to the tavern earlier to rest. _

_When she heard the screeching of hard wooden chairs and tables the hard stone floor, she thought enough was enough._

'_**Okay, that's it! Those stooges better have a good explanation for why they won't let me sleep!'**_

_Toph sat up abruptly and got up from her bed, wearing only a white T shirt that stopped to her midriff and long brown, loose pants. Her long hair in a bed-head mess, she was about to make her way out of her room, when someone stopped her._

"_Hold it Toph-Dear, I'll knock some sense into them." said a tired, but an exasperated Kusa._

_Toph crossed her arms underneath her fully developed breasts and grumbled. "Just tell 'em that I'm mad as hell."_

_Kusa chuckled. "Will do."_

_As Kusa went downstairs, Toph went back to her room and plopped back down on her bed._

'_**Can't a girl have a lazy afternoon nap in peace?'**_

_After a while of frighten screaming from the men in the tavern(in which Toph smirked.), she finally relaxed._

_She can always count on Kusa, who was like another mother figure to her. If she was ever an earthbender, then anybody who ever smart-mouthed her would get a rock pelted at their butt._

_Hunji was also a great father-like figure to her, in fact, the kind of father that she always wanted, compared to her real father. He understood her, was patient with her, plus he served her Fire Whiskey - when requested of course - whenever she came home after a tiring day of shopping with Kusa(not that she enjoys the concept of shopping, she just likes to explore and get out.), or earthbending with her 'brothers'._

_Toph smiled. Her 'brothers', so to speak, were a couple of dunderheads, but she still loved them…in a platonic way of course - even though her 'brothers' checked her out every once in a while, but surprisingly, it didn't bother her. She always did wonder what it would be like to have siblings…now she knew._

_As she relaxed on her bed, she heard the quiet shuffling of chairs and tables being put back into place to wherever they were situated. She then began thinking about the good times…_

_The good times…_

_Toph sighed heavily as she turned on her side, facing the wall. She missed them. Just thinking about them made her want to stop running from all of her father's hired goons. Sure, she took them down from time to time and she always made a break for it, but her father would always hire new pursuers to chase after her, which made her situation even more annoying. And really it's not like she could try to locate her friends to help her out in her time of need. She didn't have a messenger hawk with her, and even if she did, it would prove kind of pointless, what with all the traveling. That and it would bug her all the time, what with all the screeching and its talons digging into her arm or shoulder as it fidgets along. Besides, she doesn't have anyone to write her messages, so that sucks. She really is just 'blindly' wandering around the country. _

_Either way, she wished she could see the whole gang again(or Gaang, either one, really). _

_Zuko, Sokka, Suki, Katara, and Aang. She missed them just the same._

_Zuko –Sparky – in all his brooding, but sometimes sweet self._

_Sokka – Snoozles – with his goofy, humorous, but intelligent personality._

_Suki – Fan Girl – with her great determination in fighting, and an all around cool gal._

_Katara – Sugar Queen – with her motherly and caring sweetness._

_And Aang – TwinkleToes – with his dancer-like footsteps and cheerful personality…_

_Toph smirked. She wondered what they looked like now…or sounded like in her case. She hadn't 'seen' them in four years, so things had to have changed then._

_Well, only time would tell…_

_She heard footsteps coming up the second floor; it was Kusa again, and her footsteps sounded excited. _

"_Toph-Dear!" she said as she entered her room. "You won't believe who's in town!"_

_"More desperate bounty hunters?"_

_Kusa chuckled. "No! Your friend, the Avatar!"_

_Toph's eyes widened in shock, as she sat up from her bed. "What? Really? You mean…"_

"_Yep! He's here! Come on down, sweetheart, so you'll get to meet him!"_

'…_**Is this real?' **__Toph thought, stunned. TwinkleToes is visiting Jong Swe?_

_She'll be able to see(well, hear, same thing) one of her good friends again!?_

_...Wow, talk about great timing._

_But wait a minute…would Aang recognize her?_

…_Toph gave an impish smirk._

_Now, she realized as she grown, she had developed…attributes. Three to be exact; breasts(which was the first obvious trait that everyone sees), butt, and legs._

_Time was REALLY nice to Toph, to say at the least. Added to the fact that she was slender, voluptuous, and fit with a good bit of female muscle on her arms and legs, her breasts were really large, round, and big enough to envelop her small, calloused hands (her breasts first started to develop when she was fourteen). They're actually rather perky, not to mention a little bit heavy(no matter how strong she is), so Toph had them in binds to let them stay in place. Her rear was also well rounded and quite big in size, her hips a wide, while her legs were shapely, thick, and athletic from all the earthbending she'd done. She was still rather petite, standing at least five foot five, but still held that look of determination and authority to her._

_She also knew that her looks made a difference to the male populace, for everywhere she went, she could feel them tense and could feel their heartbeats skip a beat whenever she passed them. Strangely enough, she liked the attention, but not enough to flaunt herself off. She ain't no girly floozy. But once in a while, when she did need something from a guy, she would tend to 'flirt' to get her way, which did make her feel even more… _empowered_, so to speak._

_Kusa noticed the smirk on Toph's face and said slyly. "What are you thinking, Toph?"_

"_I was just thinking of maybe freshening up for ol' TwinkleToes. Could you help me out?"_

_Kusa blinked. "Really? Why would you…?" Then she got it. She smirked, "…You're a rascal, Toph-Darling."_

_Toph laughed. "Don't you know it! Tell my bros that they should bring Twinkles to the tavern!"_

_Kusa chuckled. "Sure thing. Be right back." She then left to go downstairs._

_Toph grinned. This was gonna be entertaining…_

* * *

><p>Aang stood there dumbfounded.<p>

Sitting in front of him was…Toph.

At least…he thought she was. She looked like her in the face, and she still had that hair bun, but her sideburns were kind of long(which made this Toph look…well, delicate, he added consciously) and…wait…

Aang observed her eyes. The color of them seemed to be…faded green. But that wasn't all. They held a look of mischief, a hint of playfulness, and dash of spunk…

Plus, she called him 'TwinkleToes'. No one calls him that except her so that's a dead givewa-…

Realization hit him again.

His eyes widened.

'_OH MY SPIRITS, IT _IS _HER!'_

Aang gaped.

…Toph had surely…grown.

…_BIG _time…

"Yo, Twinkles! Quit gawking at my awesomeness and say 'Hey' to me already! You are an Air Nomad, so being chivalrous is in your blood, ain't it?"

Aang shook his head as he stared at the girl – no; _woman_ now. – sitting on the stool, realizing she still had her foot on his chest.

"By the way, calm you heart down! I know I might've changed on the outside, but I'm still the little troublemaker that you all know on the inside!" Toph said with a smirk.

Aang blushed. He really didn't know what else to say at that point. It was...an unexpected reunion to say at the least… "Uh…hey?"

Toph laughed whole heartedly along with the rest of the tavern-goers, who seemed to have been watching the whole exchange.

Aang blushed even further and said to Toph in disbelief, "They were in on this the whole time?"

Toph chuckled. "Nah, they're just in it for the show. My bros, Kusa, and Hunji were in on it however."

"…Bros?"

"The Bowling Boulder Brothers; Hu Gow, Yoshu, and Fin. They're basically the brothers that I always wanted," Toph smirked.

"Oh…" Her foot was still on his chest, and Aang was pretty sure Toph could feel his heartbeat, which was still beating pretty fast, but not like it was when she was flirting with him.

Toph's voice broke away his thoughts, "You know, you haven't been able to resist this little stance we're in for a while." she said as she referred to her right hand pulling his left arm, with her right foot planted on his chest. She put her right foot down onto the bar stool handles, which her feet were now on as she was still sitting on the bar stool, and did a little provocative smirk, pulling him slowly even further. This made Aang's heart go full force at this surprising gesture, making him freeze on the spot, his eyes widening. They were so close, in fact, that their faces were almost touching, letting him observe her face, which looked so…beautiful. Flawless even. He even observed her lips(which really _were_ covered in black rouge! She put on _rouge _for Spirits sake!), looking so slightly full…he bet they were a light pink…and their chests were almost touching…

Aang mentally and vigorously shook those thoughts away. _'WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, AANG!? Toph's your friend! Don't think that way! I mean sure, she's hot looking now, and she was beautiful last time you saw her, but…wait…did I just admit…she was hot _and _beautiful?' _

Still having that smirk, Toph said in a soft sensual tone, "You've also been very quiet… " She was so close their breaths touch their skin. "…Do you happen to _like_ this type of interaction, Aang?"

Aang snapped out of his trance and gulped. "W-w-wait a second…I…I really don't know what you're doing, but…I-I...w-well, w-we're in public, a-and-"

"Pfft-_HA-HA-HA-__**HA**__!" _Toph let go of his arm and grabbed her belly as she doubled over laughing.

Aang blinked. "W-wha…?"

And from his right side at the kitchen door in the bar area, came out Hu Gow, Yoshu, and Fin, howling in laughter. The tavern-goers also kept on laughing as they looked at the spectacle. Some were even giving out whistle calls.

Aang, confused, sputtered, "W-what? I don't-"

Toph kept laughing, letting out some unladylike snorts. "Man, Twinkles! I never thought you'd be flustered so easily! I think I could hear your heartbeat even from where I was sitting. That was way more enjoyable then I thought!" Toph said with a smile.

Aang blinked again. "Wait…" He then frowned. "Are you messing with me!?"

"What do you think?" Toph grinned mischievously.

Aang kept frowning at her, until his eyes widened once more as he thought…

It _really_ was Toph…

He has been reunited with his good friend Toph…

Aang smiled hugely. "TOPH!" He gave her a big bear hug, not caring how hot she looks now.

Toph snickered. "Of course it's me, dunderhead! I thought we established that!" She patted his back. "Okay, enough already. You're happy to see me, I get it." She smirked.

Aang let go and smiled warmly, "Wow Toph, it's great to see you!"

Toph also smiled, except hers was warmer. "Ditto, TwinkleToes."

He chuckled, "So, is this where you've been hiding all along?" Aang teased.

Toph scoffed. "I hope you're joking, Twinkles. Nah, I'm just staying in this town for a good while until more bounty hunters come in trying to collect the reward on my head. Then that's when I'll leave."

Aang blinked at Toph in surprise. "Reward? Wait...You mean your father is still trying to bring you back home? Even after four years?"

"Yeah." The middle brother, Yoshu, piped up. "Her old man put up wanted posters saying that whoever catches her, will be given a 30,000 gold piece reward unharmed back to Gaoling. But if these bastard-bounty hunters ever touch sis, we'll be sure to earthbend them to a pulp!"

Toph let out a small laugh. "Thanks for the reassurance guys, but I think I can take care of them myself. They wouldn't think twice of man-handling me. In fact, they wouldn't be able to man-handle themselves when I'm done with them."

The three brothers shivered at that statement, while Aang gulped and cringed.

"So, Twinkles," Toph began as she turned her attention to him, smirking, "What're you doing in Jong Swe? On vacation or something?"

Aang chuckled as he set his stool back up and sat on it, "Well actually, I'm just doing your normal Avatar duties whenever politics aren't involved. You know, helping villages, keeping the peace, all that important stuff."

"No kidding? Well good for you! Like a traveling monk, huh?" Toph smiled.

Aamg smiled as he shyly scratched the back of his neck. "Heh, well, you could say that."

"Vegetable plate, coming up!" hollered Kusa as she carried a big plate of steaming vegetables and placed it in front of Aang.

"There you go!" Kusa said with a wide smile.

Aang's eyes widened at the variety of the vegetable plate. There were different types of delectable vegetables placed on the plate, enough to make Aang's mouth water. "Wow…thank you! Thank you very much!" he said as he bowed from where he was sitting.

Kusa let out a laugh. "No problem! You are the Avatar after all!" she then smirked. "I see you've met my 'daughter', per say?"

Aang chuckled. "Yep, sure did! I hope she hasn't been too much trouble around here."

Toph scoffed and punched him in the arm. "What do you take me for, Twinkles?"

"How about a rowdy, gambling, trouble making earthbender?" Aang smirked, rubbing his sore arm. She still knew how to punch a guy's arm off.

The brothers and Kusa snickered at this fact about Toph.

"...Heh, well, you got me there." Toph grinned slyly with a shrug.

Aang laughed. "I could go on, but it is a pretty long list." He was rewarded with another punch on the arm by Toph. "Ow." He rubbed his already sore arm. "So, how long has Toph been staying here with you all?" he questioned to them all.

"About two months now," answered Fin. "She up and came to our little tavern one day for a drink, and one drunken out-of-towner tried to set the moves on her, even trying to feel her up. We were there witnessing the exchange and when we thought enough was enough from that guy, we were going intervene, until lo and behold, she earthbended that guy _out_ of town!"

"Hahaha! Yeah man! When that guy tried copping a feel on our sis's butt, she back-fisted the guy in the face, and earthbended his ass out of there!" Hu Gow laughed.

"Once that ended, Pops, who keeps up with these type of things, recognized her as the self-proclaimed Greatest Earthbender in the World, otherwise known as Toph!" Yoshu finished with a smile.

"And that's when she told us her story about the whole arranged marriage situation. It was then that my husband and my sons, the mayor, and some of the citizens that were in the tavern that day, swore not to reveal her whereabouts, not even if someone bribes us." explained Kusa. "We keep her identity a secret from all the other villagers so they won't suspect who she is. We also made up a story that she was a lone traveler looking for shelter and 'adopting' her as our daughter."

"Oh…" said an interested Aang. "…Wait!" he said suddenly, "We're front of people! S-should we have…_not_ said anything or revealed anything about Toph?"

"Don't worry, Twinkles!" Toph waved her hand nonchalantly. "The village isn't all that big, and most of the people who found out were all men from the town; nice men who would help out a pretty little girl like me after hearing my story…and showing them 'the face'."

"…'The face'?" Aang blinked in confusion.

"Yeah." Toph then made a pouty face that looked absolutely adorable, her bottom lip protruding. "You know, _dis_ _wittle fay-ce_." She baby talked, as she turned back to normal with a snigger.

Aang blush a tiny bit. _'Wow…can't lie, but she did look adorable while doing it.' _Aang's mind mentally slapped himself out of that train of thought.

"And the place is family friendly…well at times. So nothing to worry about! I basically know everyone here! In this tavern, we treat everyone here like family! …Well, except for angry and perverted drunkards." Toph shrugged with a smirk.

Aang looked at her with a smile "Wow…well, aren't you the popular one around here?" he teased.

"Heh! You can say that again! The men here are very well-mannered when I enter the tavern. Some even order a meal for me! I finally got my own fan-club here!" Toph said as she chuckled.

"Well, you are _very_ beautiful and charismatic, Toph." Fin said chivalrously. "And we, but mostly I, will certainly be able to fend off any thugs that try to take you away."

His two brothers rolled their eyes at their younger brother's attempt to flatter their 'little sis'.

"Pfft! Oh _please_, Fin! Is that all you can muster? Come on, I can take on any thug my Dad throws at me!" Toph smirked confidently as she placed her right arm on the bar counter and flexed a bicep. "I'll whoop their asses either way!"

"But…that means you'll have to leave us if it comes to that!" Hu Gow said sadly.

Toph's smirk faltered. She then said a little forlornly. "Well…yeah, that's true…"

Aang noticed her expression and tone, and couldn't help but frown sadly at her situation. "Well, you don't really _have_ to leave, do you Toph? You can start a whole new life here if you wanted."

Toph smiled at the encouragement. "That may be true, but I don't want to risk anyone I know getting hurt when they go too far." She frowned. "You have no idea the lengths these guys would go to get my Dad's money."

Aang blinked. "Really? What kind of bounty hunters do you encounter?"

She 'humphed'. "Different kinds, actually. Some were pretty decent fellows...whereas some of them were just lecherous _perverts."_ she said the last part in disdain.

Aang cringed at her tone. "Oh, um...sorry."

Toph shrugged nonchalantly. "Hey, it seems no one is searching for me right now, so it's all good."

Kusa decided to leave the two alone in their interaction with each as she turned her attention to her sons and said, "Fin, Yoshu, Hu Gow. Come help me and your father in the kitchen for a while, so we can leave these kids be. They need some catching up to do."

"Aww…okay Mom." whined the brothers disappointingly, as they dragged their feet back to the kitchen. Fin turned back to Toph and waved back at her. Yoshu looked back at his brother's gesture and said, "Fin, you know she's blind, right?"

Fin blinked and blushed in embarrassment. "Shut up." he muttered to his brother and walked into the kitchen with them.

"Thanks Kusa." Toph grinned.

"No prob! I'll just let you two go on ahead and chat. Oh, and Aang! Do tell us if we did well on the vegetable plate! We're always looking to improve!" She winked.

Aang chuckled. "Sure thing!"

And with that, Kusa went back in the kitchen, leaving him and Toph at the bar table.

Aang turned his attention back to Toph, as he picked up a pair of chopsticks and picked up a hot string bean. "So Toph, how have you _really_ been doing these past four years?" He ate the string bean.

Toph shrugged once more. "Eh, despite bounty hunters trying to retrieve me back to Gaoling, I've been doing pretty good."

Aang looked at her sympathetically. "I am sorry to hear that." he said sincerely, "To think he would use you now as an asset to marry you off to suitors, and by his own will."

"Yeah. It pretty much sucks." Toph said sourly. She quickly changed the subject, "So Twinkles, how are you and the others?"

Aang noticed the sudden change in topic, but decided not to touch on it. He finished chewing another vegetable and said, "Well, for me, I'm doing quite fine. As for the others, they're also doing rather well. Sokka and Suki got married and had a kid."

"Really?" Toph smiled at the news. "Well congrats to them! Boy or girl?

"Girl."

"Ah. What's her name?"

"Anuka."

"Cute name. Anything like her parents?"

Aang lightly chuckled, "Well, she does have a big appetite."

"Uh-oh. Like father, like daughter, huh?" Toph snickered.

"Yep!" Aang laughed as he ate another vegetable.

"So what about Sparky? Have he and Needles tied the knot yet?" Toph asked.

Aang swallowed his food. "Well…no. They broke up."

Toph blinked in shock. "Really? What happened?"

"Apparently from what Katara heard, Mai thought Zuko wasn't paying much attention to her."

Toph raised an eyebrow. "Well…was he?"

Aang shrugged, "Katara told me that he sounded like he was when he explained the situation to her. The only thing that came in between Zuko and Mai was his Fire Lord duties. And Zuko thought that she would understand that that side of the job would always come up."

Toph furrowed her brows. "You know, she always did act like that."

Aang stopped in mid-bite of his piece of eggplant. "Act like what?"

"Like a spoiled, selfish, princess. She acts like she has the perfect boyfriend in her mind, and thinks that he'll do what she tells him to, even though he's the Fire Lord. And she acts like it would kill her if Zuko wasn't there to accompany her for at least one second. At least, that's what I got from the time I hung out with you guys," Toph said as she rested her face on her left fist and propped her left elbow on the bar counter. "I almost feared that Needles got ol' Sparky whipped."

Aang swallowed his eggplant as he was in thought. "You know…I actually noticed that too. Whenever we were at Iroh's tea shop while you were around, Mai did seem too…needy and…almost authoritative over Zuko."

"That's what I thought also," Toph agreed. "and if you ask me, she felt much more like a deadweight for Sparky. And whenever Zuko brings her along to our get-togethers, she acts like she doesn't want to be there."

Aang cringed at that fact. "I noticed that too…she always looked so…bored. But I thought that was always the case with Mai."

Toph snorted disdainfully. "Well, she had to put up with all of us for _her _Zuko's sake," she said in distaste.

Aang blinked at his well endowed friend. "Um…you're not too fond of Mai, are you?"

Toph shrugged, still leaning on the bar counter. "Eh, I think she's an okay gal, I just don't think she and Zuko are compatible."

Aang raised an eyebrow, "O-kay…well, what kind of girl do you think is Zuko's type?"

"How I should I know? Sparky never talked about his love life to me. But I would expect the girl of his dreams to be understanding to say the least," Toph smirked. "Speaking of the 'girl of your dreams', how is Sugar Queen?"

Aang's expression turned solemn. "Oh, um…she's doing fine. She's still ambassador for the Southern Water Tribe."

Toph's smirk faded as she picked up on his tone right away and raised a surprised eyebrow. "Is that it? I was expecting you to say something…well, mushy about Katara."

Aang blinked at Toph. "Uh…didn't you hear from all the news scrolls?" He ate another vegetable.

"Nope. Never keep up with those things. I like to hear the news word from mouth when I talk to people. I travel a lot, so I basically missed a lot of it. That, and I'm also trying to keep a low profile, so my Dad's hired men won't get any leads about a blind woman asking a pedestrian about what's going on in the world," Toph explained. "So anyways, what's up with you and Sweetness? There's something you're not telling me."

Aang fidgeted as he looked down and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "W-well…we've…also kind of…broken up…"

Toph lifted her head up away from her propped fist in wide eyed shock. "Oh…" she paused. "…Uh…well…" she rubbed her right arm. "…dang. Um…I'm sorry to hear about that," she finished awkwardly.

Aang replied back with an offhanded shrug and said, "Ah, it's no big deal."

Toph didn't even have to put her feet down to know that her friend sounded uncertain when saying that. She let it go, for now nonetheless. She did say however, "So, uh…is it okay if I ask what happened?"

Sighing miserably, Aang said, "I rather not. It's…kind of too painful to reminisce."

"Oh…alright." She thought of pressing the matter of their break up further, but decided against it. Instead, she decided to change the subject. "So um…" she shrugged, "How are Appa and Momo?"

Aang chuckled at Toph's lack of topics, "Appa and Momo are getting a little older, but they're still as healthy as they can be."

Toph smiled, "That's good. I like to see those little fur-balls again."

As if right on cue, the lemur-bat came flying in, startling some of the tavern-goers as he flew from table to table and landed on his master's left shoulder. Aang laughed at Momo's sudden appearance. "Well, just in time! Look Momo! It's Toph!"

Momo turned his furry head to look at the woman that his master called Toph, cocking his head to observe the woman in front him, who in turn gave a cute smile. The lemur-bat's animal brain put two and two together as he blinked…

He looked down to see the two noticeable mounds on Toph's chest…and looked back up again to see the recognizable face. Eyes lit up, he jumped off of Aang and went to Toph's shoulders, chattering away. He wrapped his whole body around her neck, tail to the side of her breasts and nudged his head on the side of her face.

Toph laughed. "It's good to see you too, Momo!" she said as she rubbed Momo's head, which in turn purred.

Aang chuckled as he said, "So, may I ask what you've been doing in this village for two months?" He ate another veggie.

"Well, other than hiding, I've been teaching my 'bros' on how to improve their earthbending."

Aang raised an eyebrow as he chewed another veggie. "You do? Where?"

"Outside around back, since we're sort of out of the town limits. Sometimes we practice here." Toph points the stone ground of the tavern.

"Oh…so, uh…no strangers encounter you while you earthbend?" Aang wondered.

"No worries! My bros watch out for anyone coming through. That and I can also sense people coming, remember?" Toph said with a cheeky smirk as she continues scratching the top of Momo's head.

Aang blinked. "Oh…uh…yeah, t-that's right. Heh." he sheepishly smiled as he scratched the side of his face in embarrassment. He continued with a smile, "Well, your 'bros' seemed to be really nice guys." He ate yet another veggie.

"Heh, yeah, they're big softies at heart. Would you believe the biggest and oldest one, Hu Gow, likes poetry?"

"Really?" Aang said, interested. He paused. "Should you be telling me that?"

"Aw don't worry. Basically everyone in the village knows about it. Besides, it gets him the ladies."

"Let me guess: it used to be a secret, huh?" Aang smirked.

Toph laughed on that sentence. "Wow, good job Twinkles! You get a gold medal. But hey, the poor guy needed some attention from the women. He intimidates girls with his size, so I told some girls here in town that he likes poetry. After having said that, he thanks me every day for spilling his secret." She said with a cute grin.

Aang chuckled as he shakes his head. "You haven't changed at all, Toph."

"_Really_?" Toph said slyly as she smirked, crossing her arms around her breasts and squeezing them to give her cleavage a soft, perkier look. "I thought for certain I have."

Aang blinked with wide eyes and blushed. He shifted his eyes to his right and used his left hand to rub the back of his head. "W-well…y-you know what I mean…"

Toph laughed at her friend's discomfort. "Oh yes. Yes I do."

Clearing his throat, Aang said, "So anyways, um…anything else you do around here beside earthbending? I know you can have fun once a while."

Toph then gave out a big sigh. "Well, I guess I can say one of the things I get dragged around Jong Swe is shopping for clothes."

Aang choked on a bell pepper. Coughing, he sputtered, "Wha-_huh_?! You, _SHOPPING_!?"

Momo woken up from the sounds of coughing and flew to his master to see if he was okay. Seeing that he is, Momo flew to the bar counter and lay on his stomach to watch his two human friends.

"Hey, it ain't that bad." Toph shrugged. "Sometimes it gets interesting on what comes in stock."

Aang's eyes were wide in shock. "Wait a minute…did you just say…?"

Toph rolled her sightless eyes. "Oh come on, Twinkles, I need a wardrobe every once in a while. Believe it or not, I _am_ girl…obviously." She said as she points to her full bosoms.

"Oh…uh, okay." Aang said, stupefied at what he just heard. "But…how do you know what kind of fashions you'll be putting on?"

"Tch! You think I care about fashion?" Toph waves her hand in front of her non-seeing eyes. "As long as it feels nice, I'm all for it! …And if Kusa approves." She muttered the last sentence.

"Oh…um…alright." Aang accepted that…he guessed. "Still though…I never imagine you as a shopping girl."

"Hey, people change overtime." Toph shrugged again.

"I can see that." Aang joked with a smirk.

"Say what? Did the great Avatar just made a joke?" Toph teased.

Aang sniggered…and smiled warmly. "Wow, Toph. It's _really_ great to see you."

She raised her eyebrow. "Uh…you too Twinkles, but didn't we already established this?"

Aang chuckled, "We did. But I mean it; it's really great to meet up with you after all these years. To tell you the truth, I…" He was hesitant. "…I was afraid we wouldn't see you for a long time from what you've told us in your message. I mean, I know you're the World's Greatest Earthbender, but…you're still my friend, Toph. Not only do I miss you, but everyone else misses you too! Katara misses not having a little sister figure around. Zuko misses not having someone to pester him. Sokka and Suki wishes to see you again so they can show the baby to you. Iroh definitely misses your company. Heck, we all do!" He sat there on his stool as his eyes were drawn to the floor. "…I worry about you…I know you can handle yourself, but…I worry about the relationship between you and your parents at times…about how you feel being used in your own household. How they view you now as some potential asset to be married off to. …I just don't find it fair…they're your parents, and they did _this_ to you…" Aang clinched his fists, the chopsticks in his right hand almost snapping, and gritted his teeth a bit at the thought. He eased off a little bit and said earnestly, "...Toph…we were all really worried about you…and we've all _really __missed_ you."

There was silence…save for the tavern-goers.

Then Toph broke it, sounding actually touched. "…Wow. I…I'm sorry for making you and everyone else worry. I didn't realize you guys cared that much." She then added quickly. "Not that I'm saying you guys didn't care or anything! It's just…well…it's great to know that I have true friends…" She then smiled a warm smile that equals his a while ago.

'_She looks pretty when she smiles…' _Aang absentmindedly thought. He soon shook his thoughts away and tried to contain himself from blushing. "O-of course we care! And we _are_ your friends…I just hope you think about _us_ once in a while," he joked lamely as he chuckled.

"Of course I do." Toph said automatically with sincerity. "I think about you and all of the others when I run away from my Dads hired goons." She then muttered, "And it's just my Dad that I'm trying to run away from."

"What?"

"Nothing." She said as she playfully punched him on the arm again with a smile. "Well, TwinkleToes, I wish I got something sappy to say back at you as well, but I'll just go ahead and say I've missed ya too!"

Rubbing his sore arm, Aang smiled. "Heh, thanks! That means a lot." He then perked up as he thought of something. "…Hey, Toph. I just had an idea."

"You do, huh? Well, lay it on me."

"…How about you come with me when I leave tomorrow?"

Toph blinked in surprise at the idea. "Really?"

"Sure! I travel by air, and that way your Dad's hired men won't be able to find you! We can also catch up on each other! What do you think?"

She was silent for a moment…

"…I don't know. It's tempting, but…"

"But what?"

Toph exhaled sharply, letting her hand combed through her bangs. "I just…look, I feel like I need to settle this problem by myself."

Aang raised a brow. "And you intended to settle it by running from your Dad for four years?"

"No!" Toph hastily said. "I just…" She paused for a second and sighed, "It's complicated."

"How complicated could it be? They're your parents; you want to settle with them in a civilized manner. Only they're not being civilized."

Toph sat there in silence… "…Look, I don't know…let me think about it, okay?"

"Hey, the offer is always on the table. No rush…until I leave tomorrow, that is."

She smirked and nodded, "Gotcha."

Aang gave her a goofy smile that she couldn't see. He finished the last vegetable and patted his stomach. "Whoo! That was a good feast!"

Toph laughed. "Glad you like it! Not much of a veggie gal, but I know Kusa and Hunji can make a mean dish when they put their all in it."

"Did someone call our names?"

Hunji and Kusa came in from the kitchen to the bar counter behind. Hunji was the first to say enthusiastically, "Well, it would seem you've enjoyed our Avatar Aang Veggie Special!"

Aang laughed, "I sure did! It was fantastic!"

"Oh good!" Kusa said as she clasped her hands together in excitement. "We put in some spices in there to give it a kick! I hope you didn't mind that we did that."

"Oh not at all! I admit, even vegetables need some zing in them once in a while!"

"Excellent!" Hunji exclaimed. He saw Momo on the counter, as the animal turned his attention to the new people that came in. "Well lookie here! Is this your little pet, Aang?"

"Yep! Name's Momo! Say, you wouldn't happen to have any food for him, do you?"

At the sound of food, Momo's ears perked up.

"Hmm…I have some fruit in the back! Would that be okay?" inquired Hunji.

"Oh that would be perfect! Thank you!"

"No problem!" Hunji said joyfully as he went back to the kitchen.

Kusa then asked Aang, "Hey Aang, do you have a place to stay for tonight?"

"Uh…no, not particularly." said Aang.

"Well, we can lend you an extra room for the night if you want to!" Kusa explained.

"Really?" Aang blinked. "You mean it won't cost me anything?"

"Not at all!" Kusa smirked. "Not only you're the Avatar, but you're a friend of Toph! And any friend of Toph is a friend of ours!"

"Wow, uh…thanks!" Aang smiled.

"You mean Avatar Aang is staying in our tavern for the night!? SWEET!"

All three of the brothers came out of the kitchen and to the bar with excitement in their eyes. Hunji also came back with a bowl of fruit to lay on the counter. Upon smelling and looking at the bowl, Momo leapt off of Toph's shoulders and onto the counter to start digging in on the fruit.

"That's _awesome_! Hey, do you think you can show us your earthbending skills against the World's Greatest Earthbender?" Fin said.

"Or better yet, you could show us your earthbending skills against us!" Yoshu exclaimed.

"Or maybe we can have a rock sculpture contest!" Hu Gow exclaimed happily. His two brothers looked at Hu Gow strangely. "…Uh, I-I mean…yeah, uh, earthbending…" Hu Gow shifted his eyes left and right.

Aang chuckled. "Sure on both accounts."

The brothers all had big smiles on their faces. "ALRIGHT!" they yelled as they all high fived each other.

The Avatar turned to Toph with a grin, "What do you say, Sifu Toph? Want to see how well I've improved during these past years?

Toph smirked, "Sure thing, TwinkleToes! Let's see if I still need to teach you the ropes!"

* * *

><p><strong>Whew! I'm glad I got this chapter out of the way! I know it isn't much, but at least it's good enough to not leave you all out in the cold! :P<strong>

**And just to let you all know, this is a humor/romance fic, not an action fic. I plan on making humorous/romantic little oneshots of these two later on in the story, let it be interaction-wise, crack-wise, or if I have a good concept for a oneshot. I'm just reminding you all that I won't be writing action scenes more often here, because there WILL be one action scene later on in the story…what it is, you'll have to see! ;)**

**Also, I REALLY would like for someone to draw what my version of Toph looks like in this story, or draw some scenes with Toph and Aang in my story. That would make my day if someone did that…even though I haven't really fully described what clothes Toph or Aang has on. But I don't know if that matters or not. XD But if anyone would like to draw something from my story, that would be nice. :) **

**Again though, I'm sorry that I didn't update this thing for so long. Been trying to get my life going and all of that(I won't go into details.). I also am working on other projects, so it will take a while for me to get back on this. But don't worry! I will keep continuing this story through and through! …You just have to wait again! Lol! XD**

**Well, that's all I got to say! Remember, please read and review and tell me how I did! :D**

**(-)**

**SUPER EDIT: Just changed some dialogue. :) Some of the stuff in this chapter didn't sound right to me, so I changed it. XP**

**SUPER EDIT 2: Changed some more dialogue, and added in some new important(well to me) dialogue that'll make sense later on. And I know, I need to work on my punctuation, but I can't focus on that at the very moment. I'll come back to it when I'm done with the story. But in the meantime, I hope the punctuation errors won't bother anyone. :(**


	3. The Decision

**REVISED: 4/7/2014**

* * *

><p><em>-Four years ago-<em>

'_**Here we are, once again, sitting in a dull, formal arranged dinner, with a so-called dashing**__**suitor…gag me.'**_

_Toph sat stiffly in the dining room, along with her parents and the suitor, where all the arrangements and good food was in place on the table, as she was listening to her parents converse with the _new _suitor they('they' meaning her father) had lined up for her, who went by the name of Shuga Guon. He was the third suitor that her father tried to set her up with. The first one was much of a wimp, the second one…well he was a perv. This one sounded okay, but looks(har har) can be deceiving._

_When they let Shuga enter their household, she studied his footsteps first and foremost. The way he walked screamed 'refined', so much so that he looked like he'd break a bone if he loosened up a bit. The way he talked sounded proper, and he'd been complimenting her parents ever since he got here, let it be their taste in furniture, to the food, to her mother's looks, saying that he 'knows where Toph gets her looks from'. To his credit, most of the stuff he said was true, but it still annoyed her. At if reading Toph's thoughts and hearing from the sound of her mother Poppy's tone, she didn't sound impressed with Shuga so far either. _

_She smirked at that. Amazingly enough, she and her mother had reached an understanding(without her father present of course) when she returned back to her home. Poppy, believe it or not, now accepted Toph for who she was when she heard how she took care of her adversaries in the Fire Nation. Better yet, she was proud of her! She even discussed with Lao about going easy on her punishment when she came back, since their daughter did help the Avatar stop the war, of course. _

_Although, Poppy did try to lure Toph in participating in some mother/daughter get-togethers with her, such as letting her try on dresses, fixing her hair, and participating in tea time, which, shockingly enough, she put up with it from time to time. She didn't want to hurt her mother's feelings, so she decided that it wouldn't be that torturous to do girly activities with her._

…_Well, trying on dresses and fixing her hair was more than she could bear, but again, it was for her Mom. She faced worse, and she could handle it. But tea time was okay. She got to eat some tasty tea snacks, although her mother tried to teach her daughter some tea time etiquette (since Toph just gobbled them down). At least Toph knew how to drink tea, so thankfully she wouldn't be lectured about that._

_Her father was also proud of her as well. But he feels like he has the need to interfere with her social life because he thinks that he's doing it for her 'best interests'. Meaning he still wants her to act like a noblewoman. _

_Well…at least he lets her do her earthbending wherever she wants, and he doesn't treat her like a helpless blind girl anymore, so she's not complaining too much._

_When she turned sixteen though, that's when her father saw it as a 'great opportunity' for her to hook up with some 'potential, fine', young male suitors around her age. Of course, Toph was against the idea of being forcibly married to someone. Actually, she didn't want to get married, period. Every time she thought of marriage, she thought it had to be arranged, from the very first meeting, to when you say 'I do'. That and she had to feel like she was obligated to follow orders from some stuffy, uptight, nobleman. She wanted to be free and do whatever she wanted, not be under the order of some guy that she could earthbend into a pulp any day._

_As Shuga was talking to her parents, she sat at the table and fiddled with the bottom her dress. __**'This thing is **__**so**_**irritating**_** to wear.' **__It wasn't comfortable: it was itchy at some places, and it was freaking tight! Apparently the dress emphasized and lifted her breasts to give them more of an 'oomph!' look to them. Great. Just what she needed. To be some sort of eye candy for men to look at. Oh the _bloodyirony_…to some extent on her part. _

_Shuga was the son of Earth Kingdom nobles of high social status, his family being one of the wealthiest in Gaoling(next to the Bei Fongs). But really, Toph could care less about who he is. Was he an earthbender? He said he was, but she bet he was in the beginning stages from the way he walked. And if her Dad thinks that he could set her up with a amateur earthbender just cause she could earthbend, well he's dead wrong._

"_So Toph…" Shuga said as he turned his attention to her with a dashing smile. "I heard you were the Avatar's earthbending teacher during the war."_

'_**Really? You just heard this now? What, you live under a rock over the past years or you couldn't read history scrolls?' **__Toph thought with a mental roll of her eyes as she sipped her tea cup with perfect etiquette. "Why yes I was." She said in a fake sweet tone. _

"_Very interesting." He said with the same smile. "What was the Avatar like during that time?" _

"_Well, for one, he was a beginner at earthbending, obviously. He was also just like any other ordinary twelve year old boy at the time. And he was pretty fun to hang around with at times." Toph explained._

_Lao let out an 'hmph!' "Even though he is the Avatar, he didn't have to try persuading my daughter to go into such a perilous journey." _

"_Father, he didn't persuade me, I decided to go myself. And look how well we've accomplished in the world. I actually learned a lot from him." __**'Like freedom, for one.' **_

_Lao sighed, "I suppose…he is quite the character."_

"_Oh! You also gave him some sort of nickname, Toph-Dear! What was it again?" Poppy said with a smile._

_Toph let out a smile of her own. "I called him Twinkle Toes."_

_Poppy giggled at the name, while Lao chortled. Shuga looked confused as he raised an eyebrow. "Why would that be?"_

"_Because he had dancer like footsteps." Toph added nonchalantly as she took another sip of her tea. _

"_Oh…alright then." Shuga said as he acted like he understood. "Well…I'm also a beginner on earthbending. Maybe perhaps you can teach me sometimes."_

'_**Huh. Well, at least he respects my position.' **_

"_That would be splendid!" Lao said, sounding pleased with Shuga's suggestion. "We have an earthbending field made just for Toph! Maybe you could come and visit some time for lessons?" _

"_I would love that, thank you." Shuga said as he beamed. He turned to Toph, "Would that be alright with you, Toph?"_

_Toph raised an eyebrow as she delicately bit into some pork on her plate. __**'Well, he seems happy to learn about earthbending, I'll give him that. He might not be so bad after all.' **__she__thought. Although, for some reason, the way he said it felt as if there was a hidden meaning to his excitement…_

"…_Sure, why not?" Toph shrugged._

"_Excellent!" Lao said happily, glad that this arrangement was going somewhere. "What day would you like to start the training?" he asked Shuga._

"_Oh, we can start tonight, after I have a look around your garden. I just love the look of panda lilies in the moonlight. Would you like to join me, Toph?" Shuga asked her._

_Toph blinked. __**'Hm…undoubtedly he's trying to be smooth.' **__"…You know, I can't see the flowers." _

"_Oh, I know that. I just like to converse with you a little bit." Shuga said in what seemed to be sincerity._

_Toph sat there for a bit, thinking on his offer. __**'…Eh, why not? I mean, what's the worst he can do? He's been honest so far, and it's not like he tried to feel up my leg like the last one.' **__She shrugged, "Okay."_

"_Wonderful!" Lao beamed. "I'll lead you and Toph to the backyard garden."_

* * *

><p><em>Toph and Shuga were walking in the Bei Fong's serene garden, as the latter was looking at some of the flowers. He picked one panda lily up and gave it to her. "For you."<em>

_Toph stared blankly at the flower. "…I can't see it." _

"_Then can you feel and smell it?" Shuga handed the flower to her._

_The blind girl felt the petals of the flower, and smelled it. "…It smells nice."_

_Then, Shuga grabbed her wrist and led her to a bench in the garden. Toph, not knowing what he has planned, stood on her guard. They sat on the bench._

"_You know, you're very beautiful." Shuga started to say. "It's hard to believe that an earthbender can be gorgeous, yet alone breathtaking." _

_Toph blushed a little bit at the compliment. "Um…thanks." _

_Then Shuga took her hands and looked into her pale green eyes(or at least try to, she was looking down.). "I have to say Toph, I really admire you. You fought in the war with the Avatar, won, and became the Greatest Earthbender in the world."_

"_Yeah, well, I am kind of awesome." Toph smirked._

"_I would be honored to be taught by you." Shuga said with a smile._

"_Would you?" Toph lifted her head up to the face of Shuga._

"_Yes…in fact, I want you to be my teacher forever."_

'…_**Huh?'**_

"…_Huh?"_

_Shuga then got off the bench while still holding her hands, and kneeled in front of her. "Ms. Toph Bei Fong…would you do me the honor of letting me become your husband?"_

…_Silence…_

"…_Are you pulling my leg?"_

_Shuga smiled at her, "No. I want to marry you."_

_Toph blinked. __**'Oh crap…he's serious.' **__"But…we just met."_

"_And yet I feel like I've known you forever." _

'_**Whoa, calm down there, rookie.' **__"Uh…look, no offense, you seem like a nice guy, but…I…really don't want to get married."_

_Shuga's smile faltered. "What?"_

"_Also, I think you're moving a LITTLE too fast here, pal. You don't know anything about me."_

"_But…I course I do! I know everything about you!" Shuga said, sounding desperate._

'_**Wait…he's actually not lying.' **__She thought in shock. "You…do?"_

"_Yes! And you have a lot of great qualities! Like being the World's Greatest Earthbender, for one! And being a great lie detector! I mean I practically have to perfect every li-li-lllllliiiiiii-liability! L-liability is what I meant to say! Yeah! Heh, heh…u-uh…" Shuga stopped talking and looked nervous, although Toph couldn't see it. But she heard just enough._

"…_Wait-what!?" she exclaimed in surprise. Now his speech sounded nervous, and his heartbeat was a little frantic. Was he actually lying the _whole _time?_

"…_Uh…perhaps I said too much."_

"_Yes. Yes, I think you did." Toph said as she narrowed her eyes. "And for what I'm getting at here, you actually would stoop so low as to try and lie to me _and _my parents just so you can get by me!? And tell the truth, because being nervous doesn't help the lie."_

"…_I-I was just trying to let you __fall in love with me__." He said sheepishly. _

"_Fall in love with you!? We just met!" exclaimed Toph, as she took her hands away from Shuga's._

"_Wait! I-I really meant the whole earthbending thing! I just thought it would be cool to have the World's Greatest Earthbender as my wife and teacher, an-"_

'_**WHAT!?' **__That tears it. Toph got up from her bench so fast, Shuga was startled right on his rear. She yelled at him angrily. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!? NO, YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT! ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT THIS IS WHY YOU WANT TO MARRY ME!? SO I CAN BE YOUR TROPHY WIFE _AND _TEACHER!?"_

_Shuga gulped. "…W-well…you are hot." _

"…_You got five seconds to explain yourself. Starting now."_

"_Eeep!" Shuga squeaked. "O-okay, yes! I thought if I can get in good graces with you, I can marry a great earthbender and become one just like you!"_

'…_**So…he used the ol' Azula trick on me; hiding his lie. …Got to admit, he did a pretty good job. Real crafty, I might add." **_

"…" _Toph just stood there, head hanging threateningly low. If she had working eyes right now, she would be death glaring him into the dirt. "…Get the hell out."_

"_Toph! What is going on out here?" That was her father, along with her mother who came running out of the house to the backyard garden._

_Toph turned to the voice of her Dad and said sarcastically. "Thanks a lot Dad! Now you set me up with a lowlife!"_

"_What?" Lao said in confusion. "What is the meaning of this!?"_

"_Toph-Dear?" Poppy said in concern as she looked at her and at Shuga who sat on the ground, frightened beyond belief._

"_He was only interested in me because he wants an earthbending teacher out of the date!" Toph said in a disgusted tone._

_Poppy let out an 'Oh!' in shock. Lao eyes widened in surprise. "Toph…there has to be some sort of mistake."_

"_There isn't, believe me! He tried to lie his way to get to me!" _

_Shuga stood up, "This is all a misunderstanding." He said in a calm manner. "She just got cold feet on the whole 'earthbending lessons' deal."_

_Toph rapidly turn to Shuga. "WHAT!? Oh, _don't_ try to sleaze your way out of this one!"_

_Shuga ignored her. __"I mean, she could've just said no in the first place. I didn't know what got into her."_

_Toph just stood there appalled. "You little lying otter-weasel!"_

"_Toph, is this true?" Lao had said._

_She turned to her father, aghast. "What!? Dad! Of course it's not!"_

"_Toph, don't make this hard." Shuga said._

"_SHUT IT!" yelled Toph. She was this close to decking him. She turned to her father. "He would go far as to try to marry me for it! Dad, who are you going to believe here!? This jerk; or you own daughter!?_

_Lao looked at his daughter for a moment, saying nothing. _

_He then said, "Toph, I admit, the last two suitors I sent you weren't the best. And I know you're not fond of relationships and marriage, but don't let that deter you. Give him and this opportunity a chance, sweetheart. Besides, you didn't detect any lies from him when he entered the house." _

"_That's because he was good at it! He was keeping his heartbeat under control while he was talking! And you were there when we conversed with the last two suitors, why would you think this would be any different!?"_

"_Toph, I know for a fact that you're not keen on romantic relationships. You're just scared for a new change, I can understand that. But there's no reason to make a spectacle in front of Shuga. I even had a background check on him before I invited him over and he seemed like a good candidate for you to get along with." Lao reasoned._

_Toph couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Dad! Are you even listening to me!? I'm not making any of this up! Why would you think I'm even making a spectacle!? He. Was. LYING!"_

"_Young lady, that's enough!" Lao said with a stern tone. "You should act your age and status! You're not twelve anymore, so you should act more like an adult!"_

_Toph's expression on her face said it all; hurt. _

'_**He…doesn't care.' **_

_She then turned to her mother. "Mom!"_

_Poppy glanced at Lao and back at Toph, looking cornered. "…I-I…well…"_

_Toph eyes widened at the uncertainty of her mother's tone. Even her own mother didn't believe her? "Mom, I mean it! I'm not lying! I-"_

"_I said that's enough, young lady! We'll talk about this later at the house!" Lao said firmly. _

_Toph just stood there; shocked and defeated. She didn't want to make it worse by throwing a temper tantrum, so she did what her father told her to do. Holding back tears, she dashed past her father and went into the household. She didn't think of earthbending Shuga out of the Bei Fong residence, she was that upset._

* * *

><p><em>Shuga left for the night, thank the spirits, after her father had a talk with him. Her father(without her mother present) gave Toph a stern talking to, lecturing her for not giving Shuga a chance, or some other bull crap like that. She could practically guess what that punk suitor had probably said to her father, lying through his teeth, and her father just buying every word from it. So Toph just sat there, silently listening to his ramblings in the sitting room, waiting for the stern lecture to end. After he finished his rant, he told Toph that she and Shuga were going to start over again tomorrow to get them more acquainted with each other. <em>

'_**Like hell I would…' **__She thought as she walked to her room where Lao sentenced._

_When she was in her room, she had some time to think. Lying on her bed, she got to think about her situation, this whole hooking up with 'potential' suitors thing._

'_**Tonight was just one of the reasons why I do NOT want to get married…' **__Toph huffed indignantly. _

_Tonight was also the night that she realized her father didn't respect her wishes. Sure, he may be proud, but to some extent, he's still keeping her caged in like a bird. She does get to go outside into town once in a while and earthbend in her field, but she has to have an escort follow her around everywhere she goes, telling her what time it is, just in case she 'loses track' of time so she can get home in time for her curfew. Curfew!? She's the great Toph Bei Fong, for crying out loud! Since when does she follow a curfew!?_

…_Since this said curfew was told by her parents. _

_Toph growled, slamming a fist onto her bed. She didn't want to upset her parents if she disobeyed some curfew, because that's when they get into 'worried parent' mode. At least when she snuck out for the Earth Rumble matches when she was little, they didn't know, so she didn't have to worry about…well, worrying them. Can't they see she can take care of herself? It's not like she was going to run away-_

_Toph stopped at the words 'run away'…_

_She shook her head at the train of thought. __**'No… what good will that do? Besides, it's not like I have Appa with me.' **_

_But she doesn't want to keep _doing_ this. She doesn't want to meet that jerk again, and she _definitely_ doesn't want to get married to him. But what is she to do?_

_As Toph thought about it, she was unaware of the sound of footsteps coming to her door._

_*Knock knock*_

"_Toph-Dear?" _

_Toph sat up on her bed.__** 'Mom?' **__She place her feet down on the floor, and sure enough, it was her mother. _

"_Can I come in?" Poppy asked._

_Toph considered it. Her mother didn't believe her, which is upsetting to her. She could just give her the cold shoulder…_

…_or she could remember the somewhat good, decent times that they had…_

'_**Damn it, I'm not this soft!' **__Toph sighed. "Yeah, you can come in…."_

_The door slid open as Poppy entered, closing the door to her daughter's room. _

"_Toph…" Poppy said with pitiful look on her face. "I'm sorry about tonight."_

_Toph let out a small, somber laugh. "What are you saying 'sorry' for? It's not like you're the one who set me up with the guy." _

_Poppy smiled sadly. "Well, that, and I'm also sorry for making it sound like I didn't believe you, dear."_

_Toph blinked. "Oh…" She let her sightless eyes wander a bit. "…So…wait, you _do _believe me?"_

_Poppy eyes were downcast. "…Well…I wasn't quite sure if you were telling the truth or not. It is true that you don't like the thought of marriage, so you could've made something up to avoid it…"_

_Toph didn't say anything, a crestfallen look on her face. _

"…_but during all the times that I've spent with you, I honestly feel like I've really connected with you. I got to know you more, on what you like, what you love to do, and who you really are. Even though it's not fitting for a lady such as yourself to act unladylike…" Poppy smiled. "…it really does make me smile to see you genuinely happy. It also made me realize that you aren't helpless, that you are mature in your decisions, and you can fully take care of yourself. And for that, I'm _very_ proud of you, Toph. And if you are telling the truth about that boy, then I believe you." _

_Toph sat there, stunned. _

"_And I know I can't stop you from being you, unlike your father, who desperately tries so hard to change your ways. In fact…don't change, dear. You're fine the way you are." Poppy gave her another sweet smile._

_If Toph could look at her mother, her eyes would light up with appreciation. So Toph did the next best thing; she got and hugged her mother._

"_Thank you, Mom…" Toph said softly, the tears in her eyes forming. _

_Poppy patted her back. "You're very welcome, Toph." _

_After a moment, they separated, with Toph wiping her teary eyes with the back of her hand. "Heh…so what was it that you didn't like about him?" _

_Poppy giggled a bit. "I was that obvious, wasn't I? Hmm…well, I just really didn't like how he was sucking up to us is all." _

_Toph laughed at that. "Well, that makes two of us!"_

_Poppy smiled at her daughter. "Toph…do you still feel like you want to keep doing this whole 'suitors' thing?"_

_Toph crossed her arms with 'hmph!'. "No way…"_

"_Then I'll let you decide on what you need to do."_

_The earthbender straighten up in surprised. "What?" _

"_Like I said, you're mature to make your own decisions. Whatever you decide, I will fully support it." Poppy nodded with a warm smile._

_Toph was stunned beyond measure. Was her mother saying what she _thinks_ she's saying? "…W…wait…so…if I would to say…that I wanted to run away right now…you would support it?"_

_Poppy still kept the warm smile that Toph couldn't see, but surely felt. "Whatever you decide, I will _fully_ support it, Toph-Dear."_

_Toph stood there, blinking in shock, mouth slightly agape. _

"_Also, again, I know you're not really fond of marriage, but I just want you to know…that I really do believe you'll find that special someone to spend your life with; maybe not in wedlock, but in companionship."_

_Toph just stared at her with blind eyes, feeling like she was actually seeing her mother for the first time. She slowly smiled at her mother, small tears once again cascading down her cheeks._

_Poppy then said unexpectedly, "Oh! And if you _are_ going to run away, then pack yourself some clothes and everything you need! Also, don't let the guards catch you!" she winked at her daughter. _

_Toph laughed weakly due to the forming tears. "I'll keep that in mind." She wiped her tears away. "…Really, though…thanks."_

"_Anytime, Dear." Poppy said warmly._

_Toph still stood for a moment, until she hugged her mother again. "I love you, Mom." _

"_I love you too, Toph." Poppy said sweetly as she hugged her back._

* * *

><p><em>Around midnight, two guards, who were in their early twenties, idly standing on watch at the interior of the back gate for anything that might penetrate the Bei Fong residence.<em>

"…_Man, it's boring out tonight." One of the guards said._

"_Well, what do you think guard duty was going to be? A party?" the other guard commented._

_Guard Number 1 let out a groan. "Ugh…so…this is what you guys do for a living, huh?" _

"_Well, I wouldn't say 'for a living', but they do give us good pay." Guard Number 2 shrugged._

"_Yeah, that is the upside, isn't it? But who would want penetrate this estate when the one and only Toph Bei Fong lives in it is my question? I mean, isn't she a master earthbender or something?"_

"_Yeah, she is…better earthbender than all of us combined."_

"_Then why the heck do we even need to guard this place?"_

"_Hell if I know, I'm just following orders."_

"_Hm." _

_They stood for a while…_

_Guard Number 2 then said, "You know, speaking of Toph Bei Fong, for a tough earthbender like her, you would think that she would be stocky and burly, but…she's pretty hot."_

"_Yeah, she certainly is. And I will say, she's definitely thick in the legs." Guard Number 1 smirked._

"_Whoa, buddy, stop while you're ahead. You do realize that she's sixteen, right?"_

"_Hey, I'm twenty three! It's not that big of an age gap."_

"…_You're seven years older than her."_

"_Hey, she's at marrying age! Come on, don't tell me you didn't like what you saw? I mean did you see her breasts? Hubba hubba!_

"…_Did you just comment on a sixteen year old girl's chest?"_

"…_Yes."_

"…_You are mentally ill, dude." _

"_Oh come on dude, you can't deny it! She's hot! There's got to be something that caught your eye on that girl!"_

"…_Well…" Guard Number 2 scratched the back of his head and looked around to see if anybody was around. "…She does have a nice butt."_

_Guard Number 1 laughed, "Hoho! You are right about that, my friend! Her rear looks pretty good looking for her age!"_

"_Heh, if we were nobles, I bet we can tap that!" Guard Number 2 said as he felt relaxed now about the subject._

"_Woo! Don't you know it!"_

_The two guards laughed. Their laughter soon faltered a little bit until they stopped laughing completely, standing in absolute silence. _

"…"

"…"

"…_Doesn't she have like super hearing or something?" Guard Number 2 asked._

"…_Naw, it's too late at night, she wouldn't have heard us. I mean, look at what time it is, she's probably asleep by no-"_

_**SHWOOOM!**_

_**SHWOOOM!**_

…_The two guards stood there unmoving…as two rock pillars were shoved up onto their groins…_

"…"

"…"

_The rock pillars lowered back into the ground. The guards were obviously weak on their feet and hunched over, their knees on the ground, trying so hard not to whimper._

_As they were on the dirt bent over, a girl came out of her hiding place out of a bush, with her bare petite feet in their view. Guard Number 1, with all his pain, looked slightly up to see none other than Top Bei Fong. She seemed to be holding two metal poles in each of her hand, giving out an impish smirk. _

"_Hey boys. Sorry to do that, but it was the only way to get pass any of you." Toph said mischievously, and, like an expert on bending metal, used each of the metal poles to completely bind the two guards before they can fully recover. She binds each of the guard's feet and legs, and uses the last two poles to tie up the guard's wrists behind their backs, putting them into a bent over position with their butts poking up in the air._

"_And the finishing touch…" Toph smirked as she pulled out two handkerchiefs from her pockets and stuff them into their mouths, along with slapping some dry earth on their traps so they wouldn't cough it out. Toph stepped back and used her hands to form a rectangle, as if capturing a picture. "I call it; Dunderhead's Meditation." _

_The two guards tried to holler out, but of course, it was futile as their voices were too muffled._

"_Again, sorry for hitting you two in the no-nads. It could've been worse, though…" she paused to think for a second. "…Actually, no, that was probably as worse as it can get for you two. Appreciate the comments you gave me, though!" Toph said with cheeky smile. She crouched in front of them with a devilish glint in her eyes. "Now tell my Dad this little message for me…"_

* * *

><p>"<em>WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" shouted Lao. <em>

_Later on that night, a couple of the watch-over guards found the other two guards tied up and gagged, which alerted the other guards around the vicinity. One guard alerted Lao of this sudden development, and led him to the situation that was going on now. _

"_We just found them like this, Sir!" one of the guards spoke out._

_Lao looked at the two guards who were on the ground, observing their binds. "What is that wrapped around them?"_

"_It seems they're wrapped with…metal, Sir." another one of the guards said flabbergasted._

_Lao's eyes widened. Metal… _bended _metal!? It couldn't be…then again, she hadn't woken up from all the noise… "Someone get the mud out of their mouths now!"_

_The guards complied as they took the muddy earth, as well as the handkerchiefs out of their mouths._

"_You two! Who did this!?"_

_Guard Number 2 coughed, "It was your crazy daughter!"_

_Guard Number 1 also coughed, "She earthbend us in the groin, tied us up with metal poles, and left the premises!"_

_Lao's suspicion was correct. "WHAT!?"_

_Poppy then came in the scene with robe on and yawned. "What's going on, Dear?"_

_Lao turned to his wife, "Sweetheart, our daughter has run away!" _

_Poppy blinked tiredly. "Oh! Hmm…did you check her room?"_

"_Poppy! This is serious! Toph ran away…again!" _

_Guard Number 2 then said, "She also wanted us to tell you something, Sir!"_

_Lao quickly turned back to the two guards. "What? What did she say?!"_

_Guard Number 1 started, "She said…'I ain't coming back until you respect me and let me live my life! Deal with it!' …That's what she said, Sir, not me."_

_Lao was stunned. Poppy however… "Oh my! Well, you might as well try to apologize, Dear."_

_Lao snapped his head back at Poppy. "WHAT!? I didn't do anything!"_

"_Well, you pretty much upset her when you didn't believe her about that Shuga boy." Poppy said casually._

"_But…but you didn't believe her either!" Lao said flabbergasted. _

"_No, I was unsure, so I went to talk to her about it. She told me everything about what happened, and I believed her." Poppy said with confidence in her voice. _

_Lao was appalled. "WHAT!? Wha-what-I-wha-when-how-dah-" he sputtered, until he finally said, "This is ridiculous! She's being irrational! You can't honestly believe her!?"_

_Poppy frowned. "And why not? She _is _our daughter."_

"_Sweetheart, don't be naïve! She's been like this ever since! I don't know what's gotten into her, but I will make sure that she will not act like a foolish child and learn to heed our authority!"_

"Our _authority? No, it's _your _authority." Poppy said with slight disdain, eyes narrowed as she was pointing at her husband. "I'm really starting to think that you really don't want our daughter to live her life."_

_Lao sighed. "Poppy Dear, please, go back to bed. We'll discuss this later in the morn-"_

"_No."_

_Lao stood up in shock. "What?"_

_Poppy frowned at him more. "I really think you _do_ want to control our daughter. Can't you just let her be herself?" _

_Once again, Lao was stunned. His wife never back-talked him before. " Poppy! Don't you want our daughter to find a successful husband and let her carry on the Bei Fong name!?"_

"_I _want_ her to be _happy_. Not miserable. I honestly think this whole suitor thing is ridiculous in itself! Why can't we just let her pick a guy that she likes naturally? Let her date _real_ boys that she can communicate with? She _is_ all grown up, Lao, and you are just too proud of you heritage to realize that!" _

_At this point, the guards just stood by and looked at one another, shrugging and not knowing what to do as they watch the exchange. Even the tied up guards looked at each other, wondering where this will lead._

_Lao looked like he was about to explode…and that he did._

"_Poppy! I am your husband! I make the decisions and you will do as I say! I am the man of the household, and I will not let our daughter date anyone of lower-class or even middle-class! Do I make myself clear!?"_

_Poppy stared at him, frowning, her arms crossed. "…Yes, I do understand. I understand that you are the man of the household."_

_Lao sighed in relief. "Thank you. Now-"_

"_Which is what you are right now. The MAN in the HOUSEHOLD. I'm going to my mother's house and STAYING there until you act like what a father should be!" Poppy said in bitterness. "Until then, you can have the bed all to yourself tonight."_

_Lao was completely appalled, shocked, and caught off guard, his mouth dropping open. The guards all blinked, stupefied. One of the guards even said, "Oh snap!"_

"…_Wha…w-wait a minute!" Lao tried to stand his ground._

"_I'm packing my things and I'm getting our driver to take me to my mother's. Goodbye Lao." She turned around to head inside the mansion._

_Lao just stood there, dumbfounded. He snapped out of it and said, "W-w..well, fine! Just go off then! Go! Shoo! You'll see that I'm right!" He stood there for a while. He felt eyes on him… Lao turned around to glare at the guards. "What are you all looking at!?"_

_The guards jumped, sputtering out excuses. _

"_Oh, um, we, uh-"_

"_S-sorry Sir, i-it's just that, uh-"_

"_W-well, I-I was right here, a-and, uh-"_

_With an aggravated snarl, Lao turned around and stomped to his mansion. _

_The guards stood there silent…_

"…_Wow, talk about drama." Muttered tied up Guard Number 2 to tied up Guard Number 1._

"…_Is it wrong that I like what that Toph girl did to us?" Guard Number 1 randomly asked._

_All the guards, including Guard Number 2, blinked and looked weirdly at Guard Number 1._

"…_You seriously need some help, Dude." Guard Number 2 advised._

* * *

><p><em>-Present Day-<em>

It was close to nighttime, and Aang, Toph, and the rest of the Bowling Boulder Brothers returned back to the empty tavern, all tired but exhilarated at the same time. Some, but all of the tavern-goers went back to their homes, while some watched the sparring match out back. Either way, their homes were calling them, as they thank Aang, Toph, and the earthbending brothers a great show.

"Woo! That was EPIC!" Yoshu excitedly yelled.

"Yeah! I mean did you see how Aang and Toph were going at it!? I think my mind exploded!" Fin said with enthusiasm.

"Did I!? I couldn't keep my eyes off them! It was like a ballet of earthbending!" Hu Gow exclaimed.

The two brothers looked at their older brother peculiarly.

"…You're WAY too much into your feminine side, Bro." Yoshu told Hu Gow.

"And the ladies love it!" Hu Gow said slyly as he pointed his thumbs at himself. He then turned to Toph, "Thanks, Sis!"

Toph laughed, "No prob!" She let her left hand cover the side of her mouth and said to Aang quietly, who was beside him, "See? Told ya!" Aang chuckled.

Hunji looked up from the bar counter he was rinsing off with a smile. "Well, it sounds like you all had fun!"

"Oh did we ever! Everyone loved it! And seeing Aang and Toph spar each other was like watching the New Year's fireworks ceremony!" Yoshu said with a big smile.

"And after that, we joined in and fought Aang with all we got! You should've seen it, Dad! We punched, threw, and hurled rocks at the Avatar, but he pounded them like a pro!" Fin said with excitement.

"Yeah, I have to admit Twinkles, you definitely did improve!" Toph smirked as she punched him in the arm. "Not too shabby!"

Aang blushed, and rubbed his sore arm. "Well, I have a great teacher."

Toph held her head up high with an air of confidence. "You damn right you do!"

Aang laughed.

Kusa then came in with a large platter tray of food. "Ah! Just in time for dinner!" She placed the tray of food on the counter. "Get it while it's warm, kids!" Kusa said happily.

"ALRIGHT!" The brothers cheered as they all rushed to the delicious aroma of cooked food.

"HEY NOW!" Kusa exclaimed, ordering them to stop. The three brothers all paused in their footsteps.

"Huh? What is it?" Hu Gow questioned.

"Where are your manners!? Ladies first!" Kusa motioned to Toph.

"Oh…" The three brothers said in unison. They all turned to Toph. "Um, heh, sorry about that." Yoshu said sheepishly.

Fin and Hu Gow muttered apologies as well.

"Yeah, um, sorry."

"Yeah, sorry. Go ahead Sis!"

Toph rolled her non-seeing eyes with a smile and went to the tray to grab a big piece of a grilled hog-chicken leg. "Thank you."

"Alright, dig in!" Kusa smiled.

The brothers gladly complied and dug in, wrestling for the good pieces of meat.

Aang laughed(although slightly horrified by the meat eating) at the spectacle as Toph took a seat at the table where the airbender was standing next to.

"They're like a bunch of kids, aren't they?" Toph said as she took a bite of her drumstick.

Aang chuckled. "It's good that they have that kid spirit."

"Heh. Yeah. Being grown up is way overrated like I would say." Toph said as she took another bite of her food.

Aang glanced at Toph's sitting form as she leisurely eats her drumstick. As she was eating, he pondered if he should mention about that offer again…

"Um…I don't want to rush you or anything, but…have you decided or…no?"

Toph stopped in mid-bite. "…I'm still thinking about it."

"Oh…okay." Aang said, deflated.

"…You really want me to come with you, huh?"

Aang blinked and turned to Toph. "Uh…w-well, yeah. I mean, you're my friend. And it would be great for you catch up with the others. Plus, even though I have Momo and Appa with me, I do would like some human interaction as I travel around."

Toph smirked cheekily. "Are you sure it's not because you just wanted some eye candy around?"

Aang blushed tenfold. "H-hey! Come on Toph, I'm not like that!"

Toph laughed. "Calm down Twinkles! It's just a joke!"

Aang frowned. "I thought you didn't care how you look." He muttered.

"Well, I didn't when I was twelve, but after I got these," she pointed her chest, "and this," pointed to her bum, "and these;" she lifted up a leg that let the pant leg slipped off to show her calf. "I thought that maybe they can be used as an advantage." She paused for a second. "Besides, I kind of like the comments guys give me." She said with a smile as she took another bite of her drumstick.

Aang had a little bit of hue on his cheeks as he looked at his friend curiously. "What kind of advantages?"

"Gee, I don't know, when I want to get information from some dude?" Toph said in an obvious tone.

"Oh…" Aang paused for a second and said shyly, "So you don't…uh…I mean…you don't…um…"

Toph turn the direction to the voice with a raised eyebrow. "If you're saying that if I slept with anyone before, then get your mind out of the gutter, TwinkleToes. I may be a wild gal, but even _I _have standards."

Aang hold his hands up in defense and rapidly said, "I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Of course! I apologize so much for thinking that!"

Toph snorted in laughter, "Chill, Twinkles! You were just curious, I take no offense whatsoever!" She said with a grin at Aang.

Aang smiled sheepishly back. "Heh, okay, um…" Aang tried to remember where they left off. "…Oh! Um, about the offer, um…yeah, I mean you get to keep up with old friends and you don't have to worry about your parents tracking you down."

Toph sighed. "Aang, it's just my Dad who's tracking me down."

Aang blinked. "Your Dad?"

"Yeah. My Mom has nothing to do with this."

"Oh…" Aang blinked again. "Wait, so…she's okay with you traveling around the Earth Kingdom all by yourself?"

Toph let out a small smile. "Yep. We reached a nice understanding with each other. We're practically close now. You must've heard the news about my parents, have you?"

"Um…actually, no."

Now it was Toph's turn to blink. "Seriously?"

"Well, I sometimes read news scrolls, but I miss a couple of them as I travel around. Sometimes I camp out. Why, what happened?"

Toph shook her head a chuckle. "Wow. It happened four years ago Twinkletoes, I don't know how you missed it. Well sit down then, you'll be in for a shocker."

Aang did as he was told as he waited for Toph to explain. Toph took another bite of her meal to add more of the suspense.

"…" Toph then swallowed her food. "My Mom left my Dad."

Surprised so much that he almost fell off his chair, he said, "_What_!? Are you serious!?"

"Serious as the Earth." She lifted her hand in oath.

"Wh-…well, what happened?"

"Shorter version; my Mom didn't like what my Dad was doing with the situation about me, so she left him. I found this out two days later after I left."

"Oh…I-I'm sorry Toph, I…didn't know." Aang said sadly.

"Pfft! I'm not bothered by it! I'm just surprised and happy my Mom actually did that! I say 'way to go' to her!"

Aang blinked. "…Wow. I mean, I can understand, but…he's still your father, you know?"

Toph shrugged. "Eh, I know he was trying to do things for my best interests…" she frowned. "…but I don't want to be the same proper doll that I was when I was young! He doesn't respect ANYTHING I like, and he doesn't seem to listen to me half the time! He's so _stubborn _in the WORST way possible, that he let his position of being a _Bei Fong_ cloud his decisions on what he wants to do with my life! I mean, it's MY life! I do what I want to do! I don't need someone hovering over me telling me what to do and what not to do!" She slammed the eaten drumstick on the table, breaking in into pieces and startling Aang.

She huffed at the last sentence as she and Aang were quiet…in fact the whole room was quiet. Kusa, Hunji, and the brothers(whom they stopped their eating midway) were all at the bar counter staring at her.

"…" Toph blushed a tiny bit from embarrassment. "…Sorry. Just reminiscing."

The brothers took that answer and continued where they left off at their eating. Kusa and Hunji just looked at each other, until Hunji looked back at Toph. "Um…do you want something to wash that food down?"

Toph suddenly perked up. "You bet! Fire Whiskey as always!" She carelessly tossed the shattered bone onto the table.

Hunji smiled and got out the Fire Whiskey from the cabinet. He poured some in a glass and walked over to give to Toph.

"Thanks!" Toph said as she held the glass.

Hunji chuckled. "No problem, Toph-Sweetie!" He then let the two be.

Aang smiled as he saw the sweet exchange between the bartender and female eathbender. He then frowned as he remembered Toph's real father. "…Toph, I do want to say that I'm really sorry about your father not letting you live your life."

Toph sighed. "Don't worry about it, TwinkleToes. Maybe someday he'll get the picture…someday." She drank her some alcohol.

"Well…you can still come with me if you like…" Aang said, hoping she would accept the offer. He hadn't seen her in such a long time, and Katara, Zuko, Sokka, and Suki would love to catch up with her! He also thinks she needs a break from all the running away she's been doing. _'She had to have gotten tired of avoiding her father after a while…I mean, it's been four years.'_

Toph sat there in thought, her hand grasped on the glass. "…"

Aang stared at her, waiting for an answer.

. . . . . .

She sighed again, "Look, again, it's tempting but…I kind of have a second family here." She motions the family over at the bar counter. "Besides, it's been two months and no one that has been hired by my Dad has come over here yet. That's saying something, right?" She said as she drank more of her drink.

Aang could see that this was a lot to think about on Toph's part. If she went to travel with him, then she would leave the life that she wanted. If she decided not to go, then she'll be living a cautious life, always on the run, evading her father whenever she can.

'_Hmm…I don't want to sound selfish, but…' _He then had an idea. "I know! How about this? I'll let you decide tomorrow. That way, you can sleep on it, and you can have time to think. Does that sound good?"

Toph mulled it over, "…Alright. I'll do that. …Thanks." He gave out a small smile.

Aang gave one back in return. He then stifled a yawn.

"Feeling tired?" Toph observed.

"Heh. Yeah, I'm a little sleepy. I think I'll take a good bath and check in early tonight." Aang stood up and looked around the tavern. "Hey, is Momo back there?" he asked Kusa and Hunji.

Hunji looked up from the conversation from his sons. "Oh, why yes he is! Do want me to get him?"

"No need!" Aang said brightly as he whistled for Momo. He came flying out of the kitchen as he landed on his master's shoulder, chattering all the way.

"I'll leave you alone to your thoughts." Aang said to Toph with a warm smile, even though she couldn't see it.

"…Thanks again, Aang." She said appreciatively with another small smile.

"No prob." He said sincerely. He then turned around to the family. "So…which room am I going to sleep in tonight?"

The brothers, who have finished eating their meals, in a simultaneous instant, jumped off their stools. Fin began to say, "Oh! I'll show ya!"

"Dude, no you're not! I'm the oldest, I get to!" said Yoshu.

"Hey! What am I, chopped liver? I'm the oldest!" Hu Gow said in offense.

"Sorry, I meant by oldest, I'm the more mature one around here." Yoshu explains.

"_You_!? Mature!? You still sleep with the candle on!" Fin said incredulously.

"Shh! Dude, shut up! Don't mention that in front of Aang!" Yoshu said embarrassed.

"Um…how about all of you guys show me where the room is?" Aang suggested, hoping a feud won't start.

The brothers stopped to look at Aang with big smiles. "OKAY!"

"Come on and follow us! We'll even fix your bed up for you!" Hu Gow said with excitement.

Aang and the three brothers all walked up the stairs to the rooms, leaving Toph, Hunji, and Kusa alone in the main floor.

Just as they left, Kusa turned to Toph. "So, have you _really _decided?"

Toph 'looked' at them in confusion. "About what?"

"About going with your friend Aang?" Hunji said as he rinsed a glass.

"Oh…" Toph blinked incredulously. "Wait, you heard us talk about that?" she inquired.

"Oh, we may look like we're doing something, but we can basically hear everything around this tavern." Kusa said knowingly with a grin.

Toph had to smile at that. "Okay, okay, you got us." She held her hands up in mock surrender.

"So…what have you decided?" Hunji said as he set up the glass.

"And don't give us any of that 'I don't know' business." Kusa added. "It can't be that hard."

Toph lowered her head down to think it over…she sighed loudly. "I…don't really want to leave you guys."

"Oh Toph-Dear, it won't mean you'll be leaving us if you want to go with Aang! You can always visit us!" Kusa said warmly.

"That's right! It doesn't mean you'll never see us again if you want to go! No one will ever replace my 'daughter'!" Hunji said jovially.

Toph chuckled lightly. She thought about it, really; seeing her friends again and catching up with them. She wanted to know if Katara still has that sisterly side of her; if Zuko still acts all mopey about unimportant things; how Iroh was doing with his tea shop business; how Sokka and Suki were faring with marriage life along with their daughter; even the people they hung out with during their war days! Heck, she might as well know how Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai were doing while she was at it! She wanted to see them _all_ again…and she already met with _one_ of her friends…

Kusa spoke up. "Look, you can't be cooped up in this village forever. You need to be _really _free, Sweetheart."

"That and this could be your only chance to see your friends' again. Don't worry Toph-Sweetie, we'll understand if you want to go. We're just thinking about _you_." informed Hunji.

Toph let her unseeing eyes stare at her hands on her lap. They were right; this _could_ be the _only_ chance she will get…and if they _do _understand…

. . . . . .

"…I'll do it." Toph said, her head risen up with a grin.

Hunji and Kusa smiled widely. Kusa navigated her way to Toph and gave her a big hug with Hunji following close behind, wrapping his big arms around the girl.

"Okay, okay!" Toph laughed as she hugged them back. "I'm gonna miss you guys too!"

They soon released her, Hunji then saying, "Well…the boys won't be liking the news we're going to be telling them."

"Ah, I bet they'll be alright. I won't forget those stooges, don't worry. I'll tell 'em when they come down." Toph said good-naturedly with a smile.

Kusa chuckled. "So, when will you tell Aang?"

"I'll tell him tomorrow; ol' Twinkles will probably need the sleep!" Toph replied with a wink. "Plus, it gives me time to pack!" She raised the glass up. "Well, this will be the start of a new journey for me! I'm definitely gonna make the best of it!" She said as she grinned brilliantly. She then gulped down the last bit of the alcohol, and slammed it not too forcibly on the table, finished with the beverage. Kusa and Hunji cheered as Toph laughed.

'_Well, TwinklesToes, looks like I _will_ be tagging along with you after all!'_

* * *

><p><strong>Yahoo! That's the end of that chapter! Hope you all love it so far, and if you do, go ahead if you want to follow, favor, andor review it! :D**

**Next time: A surprise visitor comes to Jong Swe! Who could it be!? Go on, guess! If you guess right, then…uh…I guess internet cookie for you! 8D**

**By the way, just to let you all know, my birthday is coming up on Saturday, August 31! So, instead of people giving me gifts for my birthday, I'LL be the one giving YOU a gift; this chapter! Hooray! XD Again, I hope you all love it! I'll try to keep updating my stories as fast as I possibly can! ;D**

**Until then, see ya later! :) **

**(-)**

**SUPER EDIT: Well, this is the last of what I have to edit! Nothing much, just correcting some minor sentences and paragraphs. But do tell me if I did well with the changes! :)**

**Again, sorry for the punctuation. I'll fix all of that in the future. ;)**

**See you all then! I'll try to get that fourth chapter out soon! **

**Everyone keep on rocking! :D**

**-TSP**


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